Ksenia Galiaeva
21 Oct - 25 Nov 2006
KSENIA GALIAEVA
"Archive"
“Galiaeva follows in Wolfgang Tillmans and Nan Goldins footsteps by using a mixture of documentary and personal photography. Her subjects may be less spectacular- one doesn’t find frantic transvestites, drug addicts or other eccentrics, but merely lovely old crones and casually dressed family members- still her pictures are just as direct and intimate” (Sandra Smallenburg, NRC, Feb 2004)
Ksenia Galiaeva (Pskov, Rusia,1976) took up photograpy after her arrival in the Netherlands in 1995. Missing her homeland was one of her motives. Again and again the artist takes us to her native town Pskov, south of St. Petersburg. In her photographs she doesn’t take a position of the observer or commentator, but she is connected to the setting that takes place in front of the camera. She is inextricably bound with the object she’s photographing.
If she, for example, photographs her friends on a late-summer afternoon, she’s just as lazy as her friends. The significance of her state of mind is apparently decisive in her work.
The recent work that is shown in the exhibition reveals Galiaeva’s more cinematographic approach of photographing. It becomes clear that not only the personal story is of importance, but the narrative as well. The work shows more then just the moment when the picture was taken.
In the exhibition “Archives” several photo collections are displayed. Galiaeva brings her story alive with photos and slides. One can leaf through the documents in archive boxes for personal encounters. Her work gives the feeling of time passing slower there, then we are used to here. The moments of the past and present are more intense, sometimes even seaming to stand still.
"Archive"
“Galiaeva follows in Wolfgang Tillmans and Nan Goldins footsteps by using a mixture of documentary and personal photography. Her subjects may be less spectacular- one doesn’t find frantic transvestites, drug addicts or other eccentrics, but merely lovely old crones and casually dressed family members- still her pictures are just as direct and intimate” (Sandra Smallenburg, NRC, Feb 2004)
Ksenia Galiaeva (Pskov, Rusia,1976) took up photograpy after her arrival in the Netherlands in 1995. Missing her homeland was one of her motives. Again and again the artist takes us to her native town Pskov, south of St. Petersburg. In her photographs she doesn’t take a position of the observer or commentator, but she is connected to the setting that takes place in front of the camera. She is inextricably bound with the object she’s photographing.
If she, for example, photographs her friends on a late-summer afternoon, she’s just as lazy as her friends. The significance of her state of mind is apparently decisive in her work.
The recent work that is shown in the exhibition reveals Galiaeva’s more cinematographic approach of photographing. It becomes clear that not only the personal story is of importance, but the narrative as well. The work shows more then just the moment when the picture was taken.
In the exhibition “Archives” several photo collections are displayed. Galiaeva brings her story alive with photos and slides. One can leaf through the documents in archive boxes for personal encounters. Her work gives the feeling of time passing slower there, then we are used to here. The moments of the past and present are more intense, sometimes even seaming to stand still.