March 11–May 9, 2015
Opening: Wednesday, March 11, 7pm
The artist will be present.
HilgerBROTKunsthalle
Absberggasse 27/2.3
1100 Vienna
Austria
Hours: Wednesday–Saturday noon–6pm
T +43 1 512 53 15 200
vanessa.bersis [at] hilger.at
In her new solo exhibition, Russian photographer Anastasia Khoroshilova presents two new work groups, “Kasaniya” (Tracks) and “Die Übrigen” (The Remnants).
“Kasaniya” (Tracks) is a series of large format color photographs, taken by Khoroshilova in the region of Karelia. Fought over since the 13th century, this area is now split up between Finland and Russia and forms the outer boarder of the European Union. For many people living outside of the EU, the border that runs through Karelia symbolizes a promise of a better life, for others the tragic crash of their dreams and hopes. Khoroshilova travelled through both the Russian and the Finish region and asked people to show her places that were meaningful to them and their families. For the photographer, it was a voyage through the history and fate of both countries, drifting from yesterday to today and back. In her travels she was confronted with the Russian–Finnish war, concentration camps, GULAGs, the White Sea Channel, new borders, resettlements of the population and migration nowadays, runes and fairy tales. But also with everyday realities and contemporary destinies: large families and single mothers, immigrants, veterans, Karelian and not Karelian, prejudices and fears, love and friendship, pain, hurt and joy, memory and forgetfulness.
In the series “Die Übrigen” (The Remnants), Khoroshilova explores the plight of Latvia’s Second World War veterans. Unique to Latvia is its non-homogeneous group of veterans: its citizens fought for the German Wehrmacht, the Soviet Red Army, as well as diverse partisan groups. Furthermore, there are some approximately 300,000 stateless people living in the country that possess the right of permanent residency, but no other citizenship rights. This group consists largely of former Russian soldiers, that fought in the Soviet Red Army during World War II and now, as so called “non-citizens” are forced to live in utmost poverty.
Together with the author Annabel von Gemmingen, Khoroshilova travelled to Latvia to photograph and interview these men, as well as to document the memorial sites and monuments dedicated to the war. With this project the two women did not aim to write or record a complete or “true” history of Latvia’s involvement in World War II. Instead, in the words of Annabel von Gemmingen, “a mosaic of memories” was formed.
What unites these two projects is the theme of human memory, which adapts easily to circumstances—we forget very fast. History and destinies are firmly entwined, but everyone has his/her own version.
A new catalogue (English/Russian/German) will be presented on the occasion of the exhibition:
Anastasia Khoroshilova/Annabel von Gemmingen, Die Übrigen
Hatje Cantz, 2015
Ed. Anne Maier
