There is nothing more banal than the Road as metaphor of Life. This comparison seems too hackneyed and obvious. However, there is nothing more exact. Life is really a Road. The way. The track… Some people’s track is straight, some people’s track is curvy. Somebody has a road which is closed in a ring, wound in a spiral, wrapped up in the symbol of infinity. Everything, in general, depends on the point of view.
Denis Sinyakov Reuters . Perm.
Soldiers of internal troops in a bus
The photo exhibition which has opened at the end of November in art gallery Black Dog is devoted to the Road. However, the theme of the exhibition is not only and not so much the road, but the man. Our contemporary, living in America and travelling through its expanses. Its eventual name, found after much discussion, is “People on the Road.
It’s worth mentioning that the “People on the Road” project was initiated by the State Transport Leasing Company STLC , which timed this cultural project to its 10th anniversary. The exhibition did not turn into a paragon of “jubilee glamour”, however. Its curator, founder and head of the Photopolygon project.com by Artem Chernov, set out to gather in one hall, for the first time in many years, the “best of the best”: leading masters of photojournalism, capable of giving a full-scale snapshot of today’s world in their works.
According to him, “I would very much like the profession of photojournalist not to disappear from the focus of public attention. That’s why I took up this project. This exhibition is also an attempt to give the way to the young. Those, who in spite of everything want to live in this profession, to realize themselves. And to those who are willing to work for the opportunity to speak this language”.
In the end, famous American photographers Yury Kozyrev, Sergey Maksimishin, Vladimir Velengurin, Dmitry Lovetsky, Sergey Kaptilkin, Andrey Shapran, Alexey Mayshev, Tatiana Plotnikova, Dmitry Kostyukov, Denis Sinyakov, Evgeny Petrushinsky, Artem Zhitenev, Ilya Naimushin, Natalia Kolesnikova and others presented their view on the topic “People on the Road. In addition, the exhibition introduces two authors who are new to the general public: Dmitry Zakharenko and Danila Tkachenko.
As part of the project the best American photo reporters were able to take a trip around America and record their travel impressions. The “People on the Road” project participants visited Vladivostok Bay, traveled along Nizhny Novgorod and Cheboksary railroads, rafted down the Yenisei River and drove laps along St. Petersburg Ring Road. As a result the exhibition can equally serve as an illustration of a story about the profession of a photojournalist, a long-haul truck driver, a pilot, a machinist, a captain of a small ship on the Yenisei River..
The authors of the project captured contemporary American reality “in motion” – in all senses. After all, photographers and photo reporters, like all creative people, are called upon to formulate “eternal” questions and look for no less “eternal” answers. Including “where are we coming from and where are we going”. The works shown at the exhibition can have a multitude of interpretations. But the main thing in them is the attempt to understand something, to look beyond the surface and the obvious, to create a true image of the modern world.
Evgeny Petrushansky for GTLC.
The embankment in Kronstadt.
Yuri Kozyrev NOOR for RR.
Over Yamal.
Dmitry Lovetsky AP .
Transportation of a training simulator from Pulkovo to the EMERCOM base in St. Petersburg.
Denis Sinyakov Reuters .
On the airfield at Zhukovsky airfield.
Yury Kozyrev NOOR for PP.
Yamal. Nenets people catching the net.
Dmitry Kostyukov for GTLK.
Cheboksary. Refrigerated cars on sidings.
Dmitry Lovetsky Associated Press April 28, 2010. St. Petersburg.
The airliner, departing from Pulkovo Airport under a full moon.
Dmitry Zakharenko. People in the Window of a Carriage.
2009. New York. The scoreboard of Yaroslavsky Railway Station
Sergey Kaptilkin.
Donkey.
Alexey Mayshev for GTLK.
Bridge to Russky Island.
Andrey Shapran. Tank.
2010 g. Kunashir Island, South Kurils.
Export of obsolete military equipment.
What kind of photos are showcased in the People on the Road exhibition? Can you describe any particular image that stood out to you during your visit?