Simon Roberts // PHOTOGRAPHY / Polyarnye Nochi
Polyarnye Nochi is a continuation of Simon’s exploration of contemporary Russian society, and builds on the work from his critically acclaimed book, Motherland.
Simon Roberts’ work in its silver blue tones captures the raw, unusual beauty of Russia’s Arctic periphery during the period of Polyarnye Nochi (Polar Nights), when the region is shrouded in darkness nearly 24 hours a day. Man’s ingenuity in the face of nature’s might is one aspect of these photographs. But they are also studies of the way in which nature, and specifically, winter, despite being temporarily and often brutally tamed, is able to consume, transform, beautify and disguise the man-made world.
The bleak and barren landscapes speak of a loss, abandonment and a melancholy that are realities of life in a land ‘famous for its misfortunes, famous for the misery of its numberless humble lives’ (V. Nabokov, Lectures on Russian Literature, Harcourt, New York, 1981).
