Close and Far: Russian Photography Now, Calvert 22

Close and Far at Calvert 22 features a portrayal of Russian life through various lenses, including the remarkable colour photographs of chemist and photographer Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky.

The back story

At the beginning of the 20th century colour photography could not yet be mass-produced, as the process was complex and expensive. However, individual photographers and chemists had been experimenting with colour film from its earliest days, with the first colour photograph taken by physicist James Clerk Maxwel l in 1861. Another pioneer of colour photography, working at the turn of the twentieth century, was a Russian chemist called Sergey Prokudin-Gorsky . Only recently has technology made it possible to reconstruct a stunning set of colour photographs commissioned by Tsar Nicholas II , and taken by Prokudin-Gorsky, of the Russian empire before the revolution.

A point of interest

These are important not only for the use of colour film, but because photography having been from itsearly days a service paid for by the rich, we have relatively few documents of the poor from these times. It is truly incredible to see images in colour ofRussian peasants from remote corners of the empire working and socialising,showing a way of life that is now almost entirely gone.

The exhibition

Alongside the Prokudin-Gorsky photographs, Close and Far showcases the work of five contemporary Russian photographers documenting the turn of the twenty-first century, each of these artists in their own way dealing with the past and present of Russian life. The juxtaposition between various pasts and a presents, which both envision or suggest different futures for Russia, makes this show something quite unique.