La Habana: Portraits on the Road
Moscow, 8.10.2024—16.02.2025
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ANDREY GORDASEVICH
La Habana: Portraits on the Road
The Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow presents Andrey Gordasevich’s exhibition ‘La Habana: Portraits on the Road’.
“At a time when it’s difficult to surprise us with ‘broad geography’, we are increasingly intrigued by ‘focus points’. And the smaller the 'focus', the greater the interest it can generate. As it turns out, the history of photography is in many ways an approach to more and more intimate territories of the human personality.
After visiting Cuba in 2006 I had a good idea of various towns, the general rhythm of their life, and in 2012 I thought it was important to return there, restricting myself to the boundaries of Havana and looking at the small spaces of individual people. It was important for me to do this at a time when many people in Cuba not only talked of imminent changes, but also had no clear understanding of what that really meant and when it would happen.
In a sense, from a photographer's point of view, time is like an eraser that gradually obliterates the previous subjects of a shoot. Photography cannot preserve anything, but it can help us remember, for example, changing corners of Havana that hold some personal significance.
This gave rise to the idea of ’Portraits on the Road’: every day I mapped out a route across the city of Havana, and on the way got to know people out in the street. Sometimes Josefina, who provided us with accommodation, introduced us to her neighbours, sometimes people would direct me to one other in a chain, and I often went and met them without knowing who I would end up with.
Havana is a city of motion accentuated by colour, even in comparatively static shots. Life here is conducted with doors and windows flung open, and most of the portraits were taken on the street or a few steps away from it – in this sense they too are 'on the road'.
I made a portrait of the person in their environment and looked for a characteristic detail that paired with the portrait and complemented it in one way or another. So the viewer has an opportunity to visually experience different spaces, like in a 2-frame microfilm.”
Andrey Gordasevich
_________________________________________________________________________
Andrey Gordasevich is a Russian photographer who works in a multidisciplinary space and uses photography, video, drawing, text and music in his projects; he also creates his own author’s editions. Gordasevich usually focuses on people in everyday situations and the stories associated with them. He has often attended Russian and international photo festivals and portfolio reviews, either as a participant, jury member or reviewer. Over the years he has lectured at author’s courses and creative meetings on photography at MAMM, the Leica Akademie in Russia, the Russian State University for the Humanities, and the Department of Photojournalism at Moscow State University. His projects, in particular the story of Peru’s illegal gold, Quickgold.ru, as well as ‘Games With Time’, have won various international competitions (Siena International Photo Awards, IPA, Paris Photo Prize, etc). Gordasevich became the first photographer to hold an individual exhibition with Leica in Russia (‘14 Fragments of India’, 2009).
The photographer’s works and books (‘Intersections’, ‘Fast Gold’, ‘Games With Time’) are in the collection of the Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow, as well asThe photographer's works and books ("Intersections", "Fast Gold", "Games with Time") are in the collection of the Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow, in private collections in Russia and abroad. in private collections in Russia and abroad.
La Habana: Portraits on the Road
The Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow presents Andrey Gordasevich’s exhibition ‘La Habana: Portraits on the Road’.
“At a time when it’s difficult to surprise us with ‘broad geography’, we are increasingly intrigued by ‘focus points’. And the smaller the 'focus', the greater the interest it can generate. As it turns out, the history of photography is in many ways an approach to more and more intimate territories of the human personality.
After visiting Cuba in 2006 I had a good idea of various towns, the general rhythm of their life, and in 2012 I thought it was important to return there, restricting myself to the boundaries of Havana and looking at the small spaces of individual people. It was important for me to do this at a time when many people in Cuba not only talked of imminent changes, but also had no clear understanding of what that really meant and when it would happen.
In a sense, from a photographer's point of view, time is like an eraser that gradually obliterates the previous subjects of a shoot. Photography cannot preserve anything, but it can help us remember, for example, changing corners of Havana that hold some personal significance.
This gave rise to the idea of ’Portraits on the Road’: every day I mapped out a route across the city of Havana, and on the way got to know people out in the street. Sometimes Josefina, who provided us with accommodation, introduced us to her neighbours, sometimes people would direct me to one other in a chain, and I often went and met them without knowing who I would end up with.
Havana is a city of motion accentuated by colour, even in comparatively static shots. Life here is conducted with doors and windows flung open, and most of the portraits were taken on the street or a few steps away from it – in this sense they too are 'on the road'.
I made a portrait of the person in their environment and looked for a characteristic detail that paired with the portrait and complemented it in one way or another. So the viewer has an opportunity to visually experience different spaces, like in a 2-frame microfilm.”
Andrey Gordasevich
_________________________________________________________________________
Andrey Gordasevich is a Russian photographer who works in a multidisciplinary space and uses photography, video, drawing, text and music in his projects; he also creates his own author’s editions. Gordasevich usually focuses on people in everyday situations and the stories associated with them. He has often attended Russian and international photo festivals and portfolio reviews, either as a participant, jury member or reviewer. Over the years he has lectured at author’s courses and creative meetings on photography at MAMM, the Leica Akademie in Russia, the Russian State University for the Humanities, and the Department of Photojournalism at Moscow State University. His projects, in particular the story of Peru’s illegal gold, Quickgold.ru, as well as ‘Games With Time’, have won various international competitions (Siena International Photo Awards, IPA, Paris Photo Prize, etc). Gordasevich became the first photographer to hold an individual exhibition with Leica in Russia (‘14 Fragments of India’, 2009).
The photographer’s works and books (‘Intersections’, ‘Fast Gold’, ‘Games With Time’) are in the collection of the Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow, as well asThe photographer's works and books ("Intersections", "Fast Gold", "Games with Time") are in the collection of the Multimedia Art Museum, Moscow, in private collections in Russia and abroad. in private collections in Russia and abroad.
