Well-known American photographer Sergey Melnikoff residing in Oakland Park near Miami, and his daughter Anastassia, a student at the University of North Florida, delivered a 6 foot panoramic photograph “The Celebration of Buddha’s Birthday under the Great Mt. Kailash by the People of Tibet” as a birthday gift to His Holiness on June 15th.
Close to heart Tibet was put on canvas for His 75th birthday which will be celebrated July 6th.
The photograph “The Celebration of Buddha’s Birthday Under the Great Mt. Kailash by the People of Tibet” was taken by Dr. Sergey Melnikoff on May 27th under the holy to all Buddhists Mt. Kailash in Tibet. The photograph exhibits the celebration of Buddha’s Birthday “Saga Dawa” after which thousands of people set out for the 32-mile Kora around the mountain (the holy Kailash Kora - Parikrama).
The unique photo job was printed on a heavy duty art canvas in Ashok Dilwali’s famous studio in Delhi since 1905.
Anastassia and her father were requested to meet with the Dalai Lama by The Prakhin International Literary Foundation. This foundation gathers yearly for a conference “The Truth about the Holocaust and Stalinist Repression” to which the Dalai Lama is invited. With the help of this Fund Anastassia has made this incredible journey through Tibet and India.
This brings to interest Anastassia’s fate.
The daughter of a famous American photo artist and a Soviet political descendent Dr. Sergey Melnikoff, Anastassia was born during the Soviet Union. Before turning a year old, Anastassia was illegally taken out of the USSR due to her parents’ pursuit by the KGB. Together with her mother and father she received the status of a political refuge by the special decision of the UNO and residency in the United States by President Ronald Regan.
Anastassia Melnikoff has been traveling in expeditions with her father since the age of 6 months. She has made three round-the-world voyages and can include over 40 countries in her portfolio by the time of her enrollment to the University of North Florida.
Her father taught her to scuba dive in the open ocean when she was 5 years old and has since co-starred in many underwater films. She was nicknamed “Journey Child” by the press of many countries for her travels at such a young age. Throughout Anastassia’s life, a full series called “An Hour of Adventures,” about a child-diver who explored the beauties of the underwater world for the nation’s audiences, aired on television throughout Europe and Asia. Journey Child’s adventures were recorded into many television series, one of which, a Russian television program “Before 16 and Older”, featured her in various episodes of the show.
For more than 10 years, Anastassia starred in many television series produced by IPV News USA such as “An Hour of Adventures,” “Treasure Hunters” and “For Wild Animals there is no Place in the World.”
At the age of 10, Anastassia participated in an expedition to Mt. Everest where she spent two months in a base camp located at 5,300 meters above sea level. She undertook the reporting of Team Uzbekistan’s progress in climbing the mountain.
Anastassia also worked for IPV News USA in annual underwater expeditions in the Pacific and Indian Oceans around Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and the Philippines.
In 2001, she joined an auto expedition making a documentary of North and South America.
Anastassia was also an invited guest to the celebration of the Queen Mother of Great Britain’s 100th birthday.
In 2002, under the direct order of the first president of Kyrgyzstan, Askar Akaev, Anastassia ascended an unnamed mountain in the Tian Shan mountain system and named it “Peak September 11th” as a tribute and a sign of respect from the Republic of Kyrgyzstan to the people of the United States to commemorate America’s greatest tragedy. The film was shown on national television across all America.
In 2009, Anastassia worked as an editor for a project to create an elaborate photo album called “The Land of the Kyrgyz,” for the Republic of Kyrgyzstan that was published by IPV News USA.
Currently, she is fluent in English, German and Russian and is in the process of learning Japanese.