Simon Roberts // PHOTOGRAPHY / Motherland
Simon Roberts travelled throughout Russia between July 2004 and August 2005, making pictures in over 200 locations and creating one of the most extensive, Comprehensive photographic accounts of this vast country by a Westerner. His images are not clichéd representations of a Russia ground down by poverty and despair; rather, he presents a beautiful and awe-inspiring land, with a dignified people empowered by a growing optimism and a deep rooted sense of national esteem. Intimate and revealing portraits of contemporary Russians show us a diverse people, united by a sense of common identity and connected by a shared love of ‘the Motherland’, while breathtaking landscapes reveal the complexity and uniqueness of the country.
“Motherland is a beautifully resolved body of work and the pervading air of melancholy, so suited the subject. The editing together of landscapes and figure studies work powerfully together – and Simon’s eye for the special detail that lifts a picture above a record to become a kind of poetry is evident in every image.” Martin Barnes, Curator, V&A
Book Reviews here: http://dmbmedia.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/Motherland-Reviews.pdf
