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OLGA CHERNYSHEVA10HUMAN NATUREOlga ChernyshevaOne can feel how human nature yearnsfor its ancient and eternal basis - vegetablenature. It is especially obvious in theRembrandt etchings where a humanbeing is detached from the environmentthat had created him only for the momentof acting. He is visible then. But his legsare already about to interweave with thetree roots, the body diffuses into light orswells with the complex full-bodiedshadow. A little more, and he would meltinto the surrounding elements. Hisexistence is guaranteed but by the specialdivine will, gathering him together. This isthe kind of pausing that we have here. Itcould be characterized as a state ofanabiosis, detachment from the rhythm oftime and consequently, entropy. Or asenchanted and awkward states connectedby the intense resistance to thepassing social and political regimes. Theirslow and endless life is full of its own privatemystical joy. All is left to do is to letoneself be enchanted by it.ANABIOSISTatiana Salzirn, in: “European Photography”,No. 70, winter 2001/2002Life in today's Russia - full of desperateand for the most part unfulfilled hopesthat used to be harbored by the millions -supplies Chernysheva with an enormouswealth of material. Fishermen near iceholesand little trees wrapped in sackclothappear in freshly fallen snow, and characterizeRussian life over the period of thelong severe winter. In anxious expectationof a catch, fishermen have to sit motionlesslynear ice-holes for hours in intenselycold weather. To avoid freezing, theyenvelop themselves in a transparent polyethylenefilm so that they begin to look likeblocks of ice or snowdrifts. But it is difficultto determine what has been hiddenfrom view by this diffuse curtain – the lastpossibility in the struggle for survival, or aform of recreation and pleasure? Plantstoo are wrapped up to protect themagainst frost. But what form of life isactually hidden inside the cover? Allegoryturns into mockery. [ … ] Photographyand life are of a similar nature; photons oflight are at their origins. During anabiosisthe process of photosynthesis is haltedand life comes to a standstill. In OlgaChernysheva’s view, anabiosis, or sleepeven more so, is the image of Russia.Sleep is a mutation of time, a transition toanother phase. In this sense, her studiesof nature do nothing other than addressthe mystery of being, the fate of objects,people or whole countries. Discoveringthe future is only possible through a carefulstudy of the present, through discreteimages of objects. Chernysheva’s photographspresent the world in a state ofpeace and quiet, prior to the explosion ofhistory, when events are clearly distinguishablein the present and not compoundedby time, when every image is a valuableunit serving to measure a life or an epoch.right page:OLGA CHERNYSHEVA“Anabiosis”, 2000-2002from a series of 8 photographs104 x 72 cm each, Ed. 5