As the Finnish philosopher Tarmo Kunnas says, “A person tries to attach meaning and sense to their personal history. The legacy of Hegel, the nationalistic historical literature, the general postulates of Marxism and the evolution theory, and the positivism of Auguste Comte of the 19thcentury are all examples of unconscious desire of philosophy to find a disposition of Providence in the history of humanity. These streams of thought deliberately underestimate and embellish the tragedy of life and the evil committed due to the wish to present history as meaningful.” Photography is a visual carrier of history: an archival household picture reflects “visual priorities” of an epoch. Work with archives is work with memory: both personal, subjective memory, and collective memory, created in a manipulative way.
Over the past three years, I have been working with photo archives a lot. Visiting various archives, every time I felt like walking through a cemetery of history. A space which physically covers up a country’s private and social histories, hides the information behind the visual component. Photos give only illusions and knowledge, hiding the contexts. The project “Oblivion” visualizes our attitude toward history, toward the current events, toward the search for truth. It visualizes the process of memory disappearance.
All works have been created on the basis of archival materials of the Odesa Local History Museum and private archival photos made in emigration by V. Barskov over 1918-1944.
Shown at the 5thOdessa Biennale of Contemporary Art.
