Documentary photographer Ekaterina
Solovieva, born in Moscow in 1977, lives in Hamburg, Germany. Her
main interest is in religious traditions and customs of rural folk in
the former Soviet Union. Her work has appeared on BBC Russia and
Russia Today as well as in GEO, Leica Fotografie International,
Orthodoxy and the World, and other publications.
The Earth's Circle. Kolodozero
documents aspects of life of the people of the Russian North. At the
center of this tome is however the rebel and punk Arkady Shlykov from
Moscow, who was first met with scepticism but eventually became the
much loved and respected local priest.
Ekaterina Solovieva had first come to
Kolodozero in 2009 for she had heard stories about a strange punk
priest living in the Karelian wilderness. Upon her arrival, the
priest was nowhere to be seen, there was however the local celebrity
Yurka, drunk, holding a giant knife and telling endless stories until
finally „the door flew open, and a huge shaggy red-haired Viking
with sawdust in his beard entered the room, grabbed Yurka, threw him
over his shoulders, and carried him into the fog without saying a
word. That was my first encounter with father Arkady. And that was
when I realized that I was in the right place, and that Kolodozero
was to change my life.“
The village of Kolodozero in the
Russian North consists of a handful of small hamlets, scattered along
lakes and rivers. Arkady Shlykov had come here in 2001, together with
two friends. The three of them were touring the north in search for
the meaning of life. They decided to build a new church in order to
replace the old one that burnt down in 1977.
The photographs
depict ordinary scenes, landscapes, children playing, the priest
reading in the bible (I suppose), kitchen utensils and so on. The
pics come without captions, one needs to use one's imagination to
interpret what the eyes are seeing. There are also accompanying texts
that provide varied infos on the activities of the village people.
For the full review, see here
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