DROPS ARE FALLING, BUT IT’S NO RAIN, 2024
27.11 - 31.11, MAMM exhibition gallery, Moscow, Russia
Solo exhibition, installation, c-print, black and white optical hand photoprint
I travelled to a waterfall!
Now there’s an excuse to escape the city, with friends or alone
to go on an adventure. Waterfalls are not only about the places,
but also about finding them.
I love travelling. I love watching traffic from a car window, drinking coffee
and smoking a cigarette at a petrol station, meeting the locals, listening
to their stories and participating. I love when wading through the woods, the sound of the water becoming audible and intensifying with each step. The magic of nature is simple to encounter in the cinema and strange to discover in person.
The word ‘waterfall’ is often confused with the word ‘fountain’. While guessing
on tarot cards, which also have inverted meanings, I got the card ‘Chariot’. It depicts a knight with the Holy Grail in his hands - a symbol of a cherished goal and spiritual energy. It made me wonder: what force controls water, which is always in motion?
Journal - Explication
Rattlesnake Waterfall
C-Print, 100 x 70 cm, 2024
Trubino village, Zhukovsky district, Kaluga region
54.994709, 36.631302
105 km
04.11.24
From the railway station we travelled by taxi, it is the most convenient option. In front of the waterfall there was a table for rest on which our things were laid. It was snowing when we started filming. Lyosha found shell casings on the grass - someone had been shooting. I poured water into a bottle. There are a lot of pine trees in the forest. All slightly covered with snow. We walked back along the carriageway, surrounded by fields. Clouds were gathering. Rarely a car passed by. I'm glad that Lyosha is with me. He is like a knight, with him I am not afraid of anything. In the nearest village we went to see an old abandoned church and a barn. It smelled like manure. The ground was wet, sticking to my feet. To avoid disturbing the driver with this smell, we washed our feet in a puddle, but it didn't seem to help.
Pushchino Waterfall
C-Print, 100 x 70 cm, 2024
Pushchino town, Serpukhov city district, Moscow region
54.832484, 37.620986
107 km
07.10.24
In the morning I asked fate to give me a sign: to go or not? Will the unknown place be friendly, will buses run there on Sunday, will I meet a strange man? In the end the place turned out to be just fabulous: castle houses, waterfalls, nice playgrounds for children, a font in the forest, golden autumn, transport running on schedule, no maniacs, just old men with dogs, running children and a quiet woman in a vegetable garden. Approaching the point on the map, I switched off the navigator. Further on I could orientate myself to the sound of the water. When I saw the waterfall, I was very excited. It was raining and it was possible to take photos only with an umbrella in my hand. Somewhere you can see how the Oka River is beautifully overflowing in the distance.
- Are you taking photos of the river? - asked a passer-by.
- Yes, - I replied.
- Do you like it?
- What exactly?
- Well, there are people who like distant lands, and there are people who feel bad and sad.
and sad. How do you like it?
- I like it.
- You must be Russian, right?
- I am.
- And I'm not Russian, so I don't like it much,’ the man said loudly and playfully waved his hand towards the distance.
Rainbow Waterfall
C-Print, 100 x 70 cm, 2024
Chubarovo village, Zhukovsky district, Kaluga region
55.212624, 36.954110
75 km
20.10.24
To understand where to go, I guessed on tarot. North - ‘Star’, East is the Struggle, South is the Queen of Cups, West is the Knight of Pentacles. I chose Southwest. After reaching Obninsk by train, I took a coffee, went to the toilet and lit a cigarette at the bus station. 289 bus. On the way I spoke to a man who turned out to be a radio amateur. Vasily invited me to a base located on the territory of a children's camp. This place was not far from the waterfall, and I agreed. Having got acquainted with the other radio amateurs, I was shown a laboratory with equipment. I then took a picture of the men in front of the antenna they had installed on the roof that day. It turns out their team travels all over the world to ‘make’ antennas and radio communications. At the waterfall, I met a woman in red. We said hello across the river as she and her husband drove up from the other side of the water in a car. The descent to the falls was very steep. I clung to tree limbs and roots to keep from sliding down. The sun was shining. After that I walked along the motorway towards the bus stop for Moscow. There was a very young driver sitting in the cabin. We drove for about 3 hours to Dmitry Donskoy Boulevard.
Mirnovskiy waterfall
C-Print, 100 x 70 cm, 2024
Mirnovskoye village, Torzhoksky district, Tver region
57.001097, 35.081587
204 km
27.10.24
It was my first time driving such a long distance and I was very nervous. There was a group of tourists at the waterfall who had also come to see it. We heard the sound of water approaching. The spring was almost asleep. I guess it looks different after the rains. In Torzhok we visited some sites: the river, the hills, almost mountains, and the sun. Then we had lunch in the monastery refectory. Inside there was a stretch ceiling with an image of the sky.
Far away
Black-and-white optical hand photoprint
Pushchino town, Serpukhov urban district, Moscow region
30 x 20 cm
2024
Antenna
Black-and-white optical hand photoprint
Chubarovo village, Zhukovsky district, Kaluga region
30 x 20 cm
2024
Radio Studio
Black-and-white optical hand photoprint
Chubarovo village, Zhukovsky district, Kaluga region
30 x 20 cm
2024
Staircase
Black-and-white optical hand photoprint
Pushchino town, Serpukhov city district, Moscow region
30 x 20 cm
2024
Cascade
Black-and-white optical hand photoprint
Yaropolets village, Volokolamsk urban district, Moscow region
30 x 20 cm
2024
Tarot Card of Thoth - ‘The Chariot’
Aleister Crowley, Frieda Harris
Original: Watercolour, 1941
Copy, 2022
Children's playground
Black-and-white optical hand photoprint
Yaropolets village, Volokolamsky urban district, Moscow region
30 x 20 cm
2024
Stork's nest
Black-and-white optical hand photoprint
Yaropolets village, Volokolamsk urban district, Moscow region
30 x 20 cm
2024
Yaropoletskaya HPP
C-Print, 100 x 75 cm, 2024
Yaropolets village, Volokolamsk urban district, Moscow region
56.130703, 35.822921
120 km
13.10. 24
We met Arina in the metro. At the Tushino bus station a man said that our flight was cancelled. We offered to share a taxi with a random acquaintance who was also going to Yaropolets. He was holding a bag in his hands. Through the cellophane I saw sweets, sausage and cognac. We drove quickly and even managed to smoke at the petrol station. I first travelled here with friends in 2020. And then I saw Yaropoletskaya HPP in the first shot of Renata Litvinova's ‘Northern Wind’ and told everyone: ‘I've been here!’ A father and his two children were fishing right from the bridge. They walked past us with their long fishing rods. The camera was capricious during filming. Lyosha had to get old batteries out of it. We saw a magic lake, the water in which was a deep blue green colour, a mysterious obelisk in the forest, a stork's nest on the poles of a power line. It was beautiful and cold. We managed to catch a bus to Volokolamsk.