It is very common for photographers to work on long term projects in order to create series of images that not only have their own meaning but also can and should be viewed and understood as a series, placed next to each other as a sequence. A very important aspect of being a photography practitioner is an ability to acknowledge and understand our own surroundings and ordinary objects in everyday life. For his latest project, The Other Shore, 22 year-old Russian photographer and multi-media artist Nikita Pirogov has spent three years taking over 100 photographs all over his home country. Taken on their own the photographs capture flashes and moments of Pirogov’s travels and life. Each photograph is self-contained and has its own meaning but combined with each other they create a story, a narrative and explore the concept of looking for extraordinary in everyday life.
I have seen many images taken in Russia by non-Russian artists, most of them were quite disappointing: images of homeless people, old buildings, images depicting the poor, making comment on society and poverty, but who can better understand the country than the native Russian. Pirogov spent a long period of time exploring, observing and recording his surroundings. Not only to show the essence of the country but also the connection between nature, the city, the people in it and all the elements in our lives. The best project always starts with honesty and deep understanding of the subject photographed. This image when taken out the context can be interpreted in many different ways. For me it is a metaphor, a symbol. This cloud also looks like the atomic bomb mushroom cloud over Hiroshima or Nagasaki. It reminds me of a project I recently came across, by photographer Brock Davis who recreated famous explosions using cauliflower, however his project was rather tasteless and insensitive about situations where real people died. This one is more like nature’s reminder and tribute to all the victims of the disaster. The image is very peaceful as an opposite of the explosions them self. Much more sensitive, depicting this tragedy with a dignity that it deserves, especially after all this years, after all reportages, striking photographs and facts it is time for subtle reminders and poems.
http://www.nikitapirogov.org/index.php?hgallery=1
Contemporary Photography Journal 