Sumy: Sorrow of my days
(2018 - 2021)
By Pavlo Borshchenko
What is “Soviet” for people who never lived in the Soviet Union?
In this series, I try to show the view of the Soviet by my generation who was born during the collapse of the USSR.
In this series, I try to show the view of the Soviet by my generation who was born during the collapse of the USSR.
Nurtured in childhood, this sovietness lives in us. It was formed through continuity in education and the prism of modern propaganda of the entire Soviet. There were no more pioneers, but there were pioneer camps, there was no Lenin in school, but he was still on our squares, there was no cosmos in the news, but it was imaged on badges and stamps.
All these things were the reason for the ongoing formation of a purely Soviet utopian horizon of happiness in the future for new generations on a background of a complete gray and not interesting present.
We are formed in this vein, but now we are faced with the absolute illusory of this horizon, also as the older generations feel the pain of its loss. This sense of utopia's losing was stronger relatively as smaller and most depressing cities were. For me, this is the case explaining the power of using space in ideological propaganda, which is so important in small cities and villages to compensate for the emptiness of the nowadays.
We are formed in this vein, but now we are faced with the absolute illusory of this horizon, also as the older generations feel the pain of its loss. This sense of utopia's losing was stronger relatively as smaller and most depressing cities were. For me, this is the case explaining the power of using space in ideological propaganda, which is so important in small cities and villages to compensate for the emptiness of the nowadays.
I used my native city name “Sumy” for this series: “Sumy: Sorrow of my days”, as for me it's a good illustration of the depressive place whose has the best time is in the past. In my native language name Sumy consonant with the “Sorrow” word context.
This is a kind of post-truth of that time based on real artifacts of this era by applying them with new meanings or with elements of “cargo cult” when nobody knows how to apply it in an original way.
To see more of Pavlo´s works, tap here.
This is a kind of post-truth of that time based on real artifacts of this era by applying them with new meanings or with elements of “cargo cult” when nobody knows how to apply it in an original way.
To see more of Pavlo´s works, tap here.
“What is art?” asked Tarkovsky.
“Like a declaration of love: the consciousness of our dependence on each other. A confession. An unconscious act that none the less reflects the true meaning of life—love and sacrifice.”
Through the instantaneity of polaroid film, it is possible to capture the purest moments of the essence of people without any distortion of reality. --- Miguel Sierra
Featured Artist
Linda Moro
Linda Moro
Evidence
Austin Granger
These pictures as being as much about what isn’t shown as what is.
They are ambiguous, and raise questions in the viewer.
The viewer shapes the story.
In the end, all the pictures are in your head.
Austin Granger
Born in San Francisco in 1970, Austin Granger has worked as a baker, house painter, naval radar operator and camera salesman. He first began to photograph while studying philosophy in college as a way to get out of his head. Preferring to use traditional film cameras, Granger has come to see his photography as a spiritual practice–a way in which to shape his life and enrich his relationship with the world.
He likes motorcycles a lot too.
www.austingranger.com
He likes motorcycles a lot too.
www.austingranger.com
To see more of Lawrence´s works, tap here.