In St-Petersburg, pollen comes out of poplars in june. They were massively planted there after the second World War, in order to fill the holes in the city. People became allergic to it. It makes them a bit sick. I met Lielia during these so-called “white nights”, 21st of June 2010.She was walking through white dots, a pollen cloud in the street. She refused to be photographed, but took me to her home and showed me a photograph of her son. The portrait was made after he was shooted, he had a black hole in his head. Anton was 34 years old, it was in 2000. Lielia’s dog, a dalmatian, was jumping on me.
Pollen, in cyrillic, is called and written «ПУХ». But I can’t help reading it «NYX», as if it was from roman alphabet. It is my western reading of it. In russian, «ПУХ» refers to something light and sweet, while NYX is, in greek mythology, the name of the primordial goddess of night, who bare Thanatos.
Charlotte Tanguy, born 1979 in Lyon, France. Lives in Paris.
