On Tuesday I went to Photofusion, a photographer's gallery in Brixton to see Simon Roberts' exhibition of his photos taken during a one year trip all over Russia. I blogged about this here before as a result of the photos which appeared in Granta, and I got a lot of hits on the blog later when the BBC ran a story about an abandoned warship in Murmansk which he photoed, and I had mentioned. I complained on the blog that the photos seemed chosen for the negative aspects that they showed, and even the colours were gloomy. However, Simon explained that this was Granta's fault and you can see from his website that the photos are full of the strange and wonderful life that is Russia. There are no links so I can't show any of them here.
The exhibition (and his book) is called Rodina (Motherland) and to explain the significance of this name, the book has an introduction by Rosamund Bartlett, who is an expert on Chekhov. But the best part was Simon himself, explaining why and how he took the photos. Unfortunately the book does not have so much of this, which is a shame. The cultural significance of a word is not always a good guide for outsiders as to what is actually going on in Russia at the moment. The photos often depict what is different about Russia from the West, because that is what is interesting. There are no pictures showing how many Macdonalds have appeared in Russian cities. The photos show young people with a lot of optimism for their own future.
Someone asked a question implying the lack of (Western) style and aesthetic values based on several photos of room decorations, and my neighbour muttered "depends whose values you are talking about". To me, and presumably her as well, the objects and style were so typical that they brought back a sense of nostalgia, in fact this was talked about a lot. They reflect the conditions in which Russians have to live, and apart from big cities, also all they know, apart from American soaps on TV. Although I had only been to some of the places, the scenes they show I have seen in many former Soviet cities, though not with the people or the little details that Simon has managed to capture.
The photo that Simon says he liked best is the one of the meat market with the "angel" (no 16 on his website). She's not really an angel, as she is dressed in a puffa jacket to keep warm, with a white lacy apron and sleeves over it. But she has the dreamy look of paintings where women looked into the distance with a faint smile rather than directly at the artist.
My favourite is no 15, the Christmas tree with lights, taken in the blue light of midwinter in Murmansk, when the sun really never rises. It seems to be taken from a room in a hotel in Murmansk where I have stayed myself.
I left feeling it was time to plan another journey to Russia. I haven't been since 1994. Time to go again before the new authoritarianism makes it impossible. I also feel it's very good that there are some young people who go to Russia out of curiosity and come back with their own positive experiences, despite the old Cold War prejudices still hang around. Wonderful place and people, shame about the government.
Motherland is exhibited at Photofusion, London from 13th April - 26th May.
