Project 24
2024
At crucial moments in my life, I feel as if all the previous events in my life have led me to them step by step. And perhaps this turning point has also come for the two reels of film. Two films came into my possession: one was a Soviet educational documentary found in the school No. 18 in Chernihiv, which was destroyed by the Russian attack; the other was a chance discovery in a vintage camera from the 1950s.
My experiments began in a darkroom using a photo enlarger. The goal was to create a double exposure effect on a printed image by combining the negative of one film with the positive image of a diafilm, thereby forming a single composite image on the photographic paper.
As the first successful shots appeared, I realized that many combinations seemed not only harmonious, but also united by a common idea-education, science, and new meanings. These successful combinations evoked associations with documents, drafts, and photographs that could be mixed up on a scientist's desk.
The final works you have the opportunity to see were created digitally. But it was analog experiments that allowed me to test the concept and bring it to life, laying the foundation for the final result.
24 years is the amount of time that separates the moments captured on one film from the creation of a documentary on the other. Today, in 2024, half a century later, these two films have met by chance, uniting in a new symbiosis of meanings.
