Donald Weber first went to Russia to document the traces of the Chernobyl disaster. He finally spent 7 years traveling through cities in Russia and the Ukraine documenting another violent catastrophe: that of corrupt power, which has proven to be a greater danger to the population than rotgut vodka and cigarettes, though consumed heavily. In his book, published by Schilt Publishing in 2011, Weber tells devastating stories of prejudices, like that of a Ukrainian accused of sexual assault who is subjected to interrogation and torture until he’s unrecognizable; until, in fact, the culprit was finally arrested. There is also that of a love that solely relies on the fear of loneliness, a story without hope and whose future is as dark as a tunnel that the fall of the Soviet Empire only contributed to block tighter. Weber likes as much as he hates this ravaged region where he shared ordinary people’s disarray and indolent consent. He immersed himself in this environment and reflects in his series “Interrogation” on the notions of invisibility and familiarity. In the chapter on display at the Foley Gallery, Weber sat in on the brutal interrogation sessions at a Ukrainian police station and photographed the raging and overwhelming distress of the accused. The images bear no captions, but they hardly need them. We witness psychological torture. The accused protect their heart or face with trembling hands that have been blackened by a rough life. Wrapped as they can in their threadbare coats, they all seem to come from the same social context, where they are spared from neither cold nor poverty. The dull and aging wallpaper that serves as a background to their distorted faces and bodies, their eyes filled with tears, their hair matted with sweat, the word “moron” written in Cyrillic (and misspelled) across the forehead of one fear-stricken adolescent: all signs of the excessive power of the authorities, summed up with the proverb: “To live you need a wad of cash in one pocket and a pistol in the other, and never cross paths with anyone whose pockets are bigger than yours.”
Laurence Cornet
Donald Weber : Interrogations
Until May 24th, 2013
Foley gallery
97 Allen Street, New York
NY 10002
USA
Tél. : +1 212 244 9081
