VISUALIZATION OF MEMORY IN PROJECTS OF URAL PHOTOGRAPHERS A. BOGOMOLOVA AND S. POTERYAEV
Authors:   South Ural State University (Chelyabinsk, Russian Federation), Iakovleva Tatiana A. 
Published: December 2021

The article is devoted to the problem of memory visualization in the language of photography. Photography is presented as a sign system and a communicative tool of culture, as one of its mnemonic and memorial techniques. An image archive is created through a photo. It becomes a refuge of memory and material for the reconstruction and reinterpretation of memory. The author explores the nostalgic, retrospective genre of photography. The appearance of this genre demonstrates an increase in the demand of culture, society and personality for memory, to assert themselves in the present through a search for a connection with the past. The purpose of the article is the analysis of the visual language of photographic projects related to the theme of memory, the analysis of visual rhetoric, and the identification of a set of "visual toposes" and metaphors of memory. This article reviewed the projects of two young Ural photographers Anastasia Bogomolova and Sergey Poteryayev. Their work connects the theme of memory, the problem of reconstruction, reinterpretation and retranscription of the past. These projects are a kind of visual research of personal and collective memory, the development of the problems of places of memory and mythology of the place. The theme of memory in projects is directly related to the problem of identity. In the course of the study, the author of the article relies on materials from creative projects and exhibitions, information from copyright sites. The author also uses materials interviews in which photographers talk about themselves, about the history of project creation, conceptual ideas and creative orientations. Creativity of Anastasia Bogomolova appears as a performative act, as "unpacking the archive". For a photographer, memory becomes the basis of individual and family identity. In the exposition space, photographs are complemented by objects, video and sound installations, and performances. The projects of Sergey Poteryaev represent photo stories about real places and people. The photographer refers to the relationship of the fate of the disappearing settlements and their inhabitants. Using a collage technique, the photographer connects the past and the present, creates pictures of memory. The analysis of the visual language of the photo projects was carried out, the conceptual bases of the projects and creative techniques were investigated. The article identifies the key methods and techniques of working with photography, the basic metaphors and images through which personal, family, and collective memory became visible. The author shows that both photographers apply a topographical approach to memory in accordance with the nature of photography. Project photos convey such memory characteristics as paradox and surreality, multi-layered and collage, selectivity, fragmentation, and construction. The events of the past are distant from us, but images of memory exist in the present. Images of memory can fade; overlap each other like images in a photo. At the same time, they are overloaded and insufficient. Just as memory is changeable, mobile, its images can be fluid, distorted, but they help us comprehend the past for the present.