24cm x 30cm Ambrotype
Alexey Savchenko, Russia
Here is what Alexey had to say about the process:
Я хотел сделать что-то вроде этого в течение длительного времени. В дополнение к маске Чешская отправлены как часть проекта, я также использовали маски советского производства. Я благодарен за то, Шейн с такой хорошей идеей. Это помогло мне достичь моей цели. Я чувствую, что моя картина далека от идеальной. С одной стороны, это было очень трудно работать с освещением. С другой стороны, не было опыта фотографирования вне студии, так что я не мог учесть все нюансы мне бы хотелось. Но в целом, принимая участие в маске серии был бесценный опыт.
Всем привет, Alexey Savchenko.
I have wanted to make something like this for a long time. In addition to the Czech mask sent as part of the project, I have also used masks of Soviet manufacture. I’m grateful to Shane for coming up with such a great idea. It helped me to achieve my aim. I feel my picture is far from ideal. For one thing, it was very difficult to work with the lighting. For another, I had absolutely no experience of Location shooting, so I couldn’t take account of all the nuances I would have liked. But overall, taking part in the Mask Series was an invaluable experience.
With all best wishes, Alexey Savchenko.
6 Comments
Alexey your plate is wonderful in many ways.
I agree! Looking at it again just now, I realise I’d like to know more about how you chose the title. But maybe this will emerge soon?
In my opinion, title “foreign” is short, but there’s a descent meaning behind it.
Conciseness is a sister of talent, as it’s said in Russia.
So, here are two executioners (investigators maybe) and their victim. Masks hide their emotions, but who cares? Executioners must show no emotions and victim’s emotions are neglected anyway.
These two persons are in Soviet manufactured masks, while victim wears Czech mask. Looking back on the USSR history, what is the best synonym for “foreign”? Spy or enemy, sometimes both.
So, for me this title and the work itself has several meanings.
1. Historical, which reminds us of soviet peoples ideology. Also, it reminds of events that are known as “Prague Spring”, when Soviet forces conducted an intervention to Czechoslovakia.
2. Emotional. As I said before, “negligence of emotions”. But it’s kind of background meaning with no regards to the title.
So, foreign means spy? Or enemy? Foreign means foregn. It’s up to us to interpret this word, and work shows us one of the ways.
Many thanks for this fascinating insight. I didn’t doubt for a minute that this work was full of meaning, I just felt there were probably subtleties I was missing – which you have now explained very eloquently. Can I ask another favour? Could you by any chance tell us how the word ‘foreign’ in Russian would be spelled in our alphabet? I would be really like to be able to ‘hear’ the correct title in my head, if this makes any sense.
Also, I LOVE ‘conciseness is a sister of talent’. Many thanks for this as well.
I really hope we’ll see more of your comments on other works in the weeks and months to come.
Thanks for replying. I’m really grateful that these thoughts were noticed. It’s just my point of view on the work…
Well, if you are really interested, I’ll tell you with great pleasure.
There are two words…
The direct meaning of “foreign” would be spelled like “inostranets”, with accent on “a” in third syllable. Also, this “a” sounds like “u” in “but”.
The other is only my opinion. It is word “chuzhoy” with accent on “o”. This word is closer to “alien” or “enemy”. This word describes the situation on image better, but, I think, the first version leaves us more to think about.
Again, thanks a lot for the answer! I’m interested in “Mask”, so I’ll try to comment more
I do like hearing the thought process of the artist like this. Thank you for sharing