Snapshots

This episode is devoted to the Russian landscapes. Rather than going in search of bucolic or pastoral images, photographers are turning to areas far away from the beaten track, where the influence of the land on the mentality and way of life of its people is particularly noticeable. Their photographs are close to both nature and men, and bear witness to an unknown world, between reality and imagination. They manage to capture a state of mind - of soul even. After a look at the disturbing border zones on the edges of Moscow with Alexander Gronsky, we accompany Danila Tkachenko to abandoned villages where he manages to create an atmosphere both disturbing and filled with mystery.

9,000 kilometers from East to West, 3,000 from North to South, spanning eleven different time zones and 22 republics, Russia is a land of a thousand faces, and one that - for better or for worse - enjoys exceptional wealth. But in addition to all its ethnic and cultural contrasts, many social inequalities also rear their heads. Misha Domozhilov takes a look at documentary and sports photography through the prism of politics. His photographs in high-contrast black and white attest to the cult of force and violence in Russian society.

From the great North’s snows to the Bering Strait, the Russian territory’s borders blend in with the continent’s. Numerous Russian provinces are hard to reach. In those harsh environments, geographical isolation amounts to being culturally and socially on the fringe. Elena Anosova is a photographer from a remote village at the border with Mongolia. Her geographical origin resonates deeply with her work – centered on the question of isolation. Then we discover Sakhalin Island – on the eastern edge of Russia – with Oleg Klimov; the island embodies multiple fringes of Russian society. In 1890, Anton Chekhov spent three months there and wrote “Sakhalin Island” – a literary account of the exiles’ lives in which he details their horrid living conditions. As for Dmitri Markov, he attempts to put faces on today’s exiles by going to poor suburbs and forgotten provinces – which are as many places of exclusion and isolation.

The real treasures of Russia are often hidden within remote places. Some photographers set out on journeys to faraway lands; others scour their daily life. But they are all looking for the same thing: the real Russia – its body, its soul, its myth. Russia’s urbanization discrepancies are striking: 93% of the population lives on a third of the territory. The big cities continue to gather more and more of the Russian population as they are seeking more comfort and modernity. Beyond the urban border there is scarcely anyone: in some places, population density does not exceed one person per square kilometer. But it is in those remote, isolated places, far from everything and with few infrastructures, that you will find Russia’s real treasures. Far from a rosy, smooth and seamless picture, you will find a modern tale that mirrors reality: sometimes weird, crazy, sad, eerie, elusive… The Russian spirit lives on with the locals, on their lands, in its own time and with its own history.