His mother, grandmother and great-grandfather – all prominent Russian sculptors – inspired him to develop his own style in art.
Working for leading international news organizations in the 1990s, he also covered the wars and armed conflicts in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Chechnya, Georgia, Nagorno-Karabakh, Tajikistan and Transdniestria, as well as the Soviet coup attempt of 1991 and the Russian constitutional crisis of 1993.
Mikhail Evstafiev's paintings and photographs have been exhibited in different countries, including Austria, China, Russia and the United States, in places such as the Hofburg Congress Centre, the State Kremlin Palace, the Maly Manezh Exhibition Hall and the Central House of Artists in Moscow, and in the Grand Central Terminal in New York City.
His paintings and photographs are in the collections of the Moscow House of Photography and SOLMS, Gallery der Leica Camera AG, and in private collections in Andorra, Austria, Britain, France, Poland, Russia and the United States.
His work appeared in leading international magazines and newspapers and was published in numerous books.