Until most recently, my interest in
Russia was rather limited. There are the writers that I adore –
Dostoyevsky, Tolstoi, Chekhov and Gogol – and there are thrillers
like Gorky Park that I'm fond of. And then, on short trips to Latvia
and Estonia, countries with a high percentage of Russians, I became
somewhat curious in things Russian and increasingly suspicious of the
propaganda wars that dominate the mass media.
However, what primarily attracted me to
Maria Gruzdeva's Border is my
fascination for borders, these highly artificial constructs that we
are made to believe in and to generally respect.
The border that Russian-born (1989) photographer Maria Gruzdeva, based in London, journeyed along is 60,000 kilometers, I learn from
Dina Gusejnova's foreword, „a rough figure which includes the
maritime borders; just over 20'000 if you count the land border
only.“
How does one photograph such a border? Or differently put: How does one photograph a concept? By going out of the house and look for its physical manifestations: a barbed wire fence, an armed border patrol, a flag, coast guards etc. etc. Maria Gruzdeva also chose to photograph landscapes, goverment buildings, officials, landing piers, coastlines, forests, crosses, playing children ... In fact, when you know that she is photographing the Russian border you will automatically see the Russian border, almost regardless of what you are shown. It is the information that we bring to the picture tat defines how we see it.
How does one photograph such a border? Or differently put: How does one photograph a concept? By going out of the house and look for its physical manifestations: a barbed wire fence, an armed border patrol, a flag, coast guards etc. etc. Maria Gruzdeva also chose to photograph landscapes, goverment buildings, officials, landing piers, coastlines, forests, crosses, playing children ... In fact, when you know that she is photographing the Russian border you will automatically see the Russian border, almost regardless of what you are shown. It is the information that we bring to the picture tat defines how we see it.
Maria's journey started in Abkhazia. "Once you cross the border you immediately find yourself in another country. The Abkhazians have their own language and their own alphabet. Signs and street names tend to be trilingual (Abkhaz-Russian-Georgian)."
For the full review, see here
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