It is a small village in the South of the Pskov region, Russia.
During the World War II the German line of defense “Panther” past throw the village. People were killed, shot guns…
It is impossible to imagine this in reality.
Externally there is no hint of the events of 70 years old. A magnificent Beauty around: fields full of flowers, forests and hugs lakes. But the land, it is enough to apply some efforts, shows the physical traces of bygone days. With a spade in my garden I found amazing things that had no place in my peaceful life. I listen to old people stories and my imagination helps me to see for a short moment the size of the catastrophe which broke out in the middle of the 20th century.
Military decorations begin to build their own. Recorded on the memory subcortex of reality they manipulate the surrounding reality, making it acquires for me the forms and meaning necessary for it. My grandfather went through the whole war. He was born in the Pskov land. An old picture of his platoon shot in 1944 is the starting point of my journey into the past.
I’m an independent photographer, working at the intersection of the genre, documentary and art photography. I’ve exposed in several solo and collective exhibitions in St.Petersburg and other cities Russia. I’m 35 years old.
2011 — Award of K. Bulla Fund (St.Petersburg) – 1nd place, (nomination People and Faces)
2012 – Laureate “Young photographers of Russia 2012”
Ekaterina Vasilyeva
Weekend portfolio selected by Diane Dufour
