Siberian Way  

I hear a multitude of voices: words in hundreds of languages, the groaning of the earth, the ringing of a tongue-less exiled bell, the jingle of a troika, the whistle of a locomotive, the sounds of harvest, the hum of burning towers, the clatter of train cars. I feel the darkness of the forests, the breath of the swamps, the air of the mountains. Silence is somewhere out there, beyond the horizon.

At school, we studied the history of Siberia as part of a separate course that was taught exclusively in several Siberian regions. History surrounded us everywhere. Many of us were descendants of migrants from Stolypin’s reforms, some of our great-grandfathers fled the famine of the 1920s, some came from the Cossacks, others ended up in Siberia due to evacuation during the Second World War, and some had relatives who were forcibly resettled or exiled to Siberia. The descendants often had very little information about their origins. We were simply here, and it seemed easier to forget the reasons why. However, behind the veil of time, every story I was told concealed the unspoken transformation of the main character. This path became the basis of my analysis.

There are two initial questions, thoughts that set my movement in motion while working on the project. Based on the motives of migrants, I tried to construct the experience itself (largely because I myself have a transitional identity). The Siberian Way is a personal journey, on the one hand. On the other hand, I analyze how this transformation shapes community and the myths associated with it.

The Siberian Way is a project about scars. I record the traces of the transformation of a territory whose main goal was recognized as the growth of the center’s power. Internal colonization set the boundaries of the internal empire. The colonization of Siberia gave rise to the idea, deeply rooted in scientific literature, art, journalism, and political discourse, of the influence of territorial scale on the history of the country. The landscape shaped politics. Space became a category of measure of greatness. Russia’s “endless expanses” appeared thanks to the gradual movement eastward. And the flight to the edge, to the periphery of the country, gave birth to a new type of subject, albeit one limited in the manifestation of political will (due to its remoteness from the center). The pursuit of freedom in Russian discourse is described, among other things, through the metaphor of space. The path to the “free lands” lay through Siberia. Where else but here to seek one’s utopia?

The road to freedom.

Visual and discursive images of Siberia are shaped by roads. The Siberian Route, the Trans-Siberian Railway, the Road of Bones, the stages, the BAM. Roads are the main face of metropolitan power, its seal. Roads are at the heart of the mythology of Siberia. These myths are a consequence of the policies pursued during colonization. N. M. Yadrintsev, reflecting on the role of exile to Siberia, concludes: “Instead of myths about the promised land, other myths began to form about a country where people walk underground and where the sun does not shine.” The “promised land” and the “fierce land” are the two main characteristics that Siberia has acquired and still retains in the eyes of those who have never been there and those who live in this territory. These images coexist with each other, although they are diametrically opposed. The never-ending “development” of Siberia has shaped its other image — that of a transit zone for people and resources. Statistics tell us about reverse migration from Siberia to the center. Life at a crossroads is neurotic.

Thus, the main road, which clearly served as the prototype for the popular metaphor of the “special path, ” opened the way for analyzing broader cultural phenomena present in Russian socio-political discourse and serving as a source of constant inspiration for political actors.

From an aesthetic point of view, the reality in the images I create is a palimpsest. I strive to capture the timeless nature of space. I deliberately destroy some of my works. Decay is the inevitable fate of matter. I use various media, but photography is my primary medium.