Russian History and Photography

You need to clearly understand the historical context of each photo, meaning when it was made and what
was going on in Russia at that time. If you don’t understand the meaning of the photo, conduct yur own
research online and consult people who might be able to clarify the meaning and the context. Please always
refer to particular time periods; don’t assume that “he Soviet period” was always the same: 1930s were very
different from, say, 1970s.
I would be interested in learning the following things from your essays:
1) What can you learn from these photos about the organization of life, about people, about ideas and
behaviors in Soviet and Post-Soviet times? What can you learn about gender roles? What can you say about
people’s relationship to each other, to their family, to work, to the state? What did it mean to be a child in the
Soviet Union? How was it to be old? What does it mean to be rich nowadays? All kinds of social and moral
issues that you will observe, will work.
2) Many of the photos either contain intended jokes and grotesque or they create a poetic, romantic attitude
toward people presented. I would like to hear about the subjectivity of the photographers in creating these
kinds of framing. Are the photos by foreign photographers different from the Russian ones? If so, in what
way? What kind of effect did they want to achieve? What role did the art of photography play in the Soviet
society and in the foreign media?
3) How is modern Russia different from the Soviet one? How is modern photography gaze different from the
previous ways to see and focus?
On your syllabus in the explanation of essay tasks you have almost the same questions, but asked
differently. Feel free to use and combine both explanations.

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From Syllabus:
You are expected to answer the following questions: 1) What was the intention standing behind the
creation of these works of art? 2) What kind of issues did the authors want to draw attention to? 3) What
kind of images or broader picture did the authors seek to produce and what kind of expressive means did
they use to achieve this goal? 4) What kind of reaction was expected on the part of implied audience? 5)
Does this genre have any unique tasks, opportunities and specifics as related to other genres of Russian
arts and to corresponding genre in other cultures you are familiar with? 6) What kind of cultural
stereotypes portrayed and what kind of expressive means used by the authors did strike you, grab your
attention or make you see Russian and your own cultures in a different way? 7) How do the issues
analyzed in your essays relate to our class readings and discussions?