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white nights in Saint Petersburg, 2013
Crossings
Online introduction of a book by Andrey Gordasevich
white nights in Saint Petersburg, 2013
Crossings
Online introduction of a book by Andrey Gordasevich
“
Modern times are never wholly new and thus never wholly lost.
“
I was scared of being left alone, and for three whole days I wandered through the city in a deep depression, with no idea what was happening to me.
In any city at any instant, people are meeting. Sometimes these meetings are planned, sometimes they are chance, as people’s paths cross. In any such crossing it is its tone that counts. From this, a general feeling of the city is formed.
In Saint-Petersburg there is one more crossing, which drives me: the crossing of the present and the past. That is why I am mixing my meetings with fragments of the past.
For documentary purposes, the date and exact time are indicated for every photo.
All names and stories are real. Any similarities with fiction are unintended.
Andrey Gordasevich
“
The White Nights are a special state of the soul from which there is no salvation and no delight. Because it’s forever captured within that ne’er-do-well, interim, neither-night-nor-day space, and eternally fated to wander, reaching neither heaven nor hell. The White Nights give Petersburg its special character.
To this day we compare everything with 1913. That imaginary starting point creates a shaky confidence in there having been a time when “gymnasium girls” were “rosy-cheeked”, “priests” were “white”, “sunsets” were “crimson”, and the “impossible” was “possible.” This imagined era of White Guard romance opens up a key to a phantom identity titled “Petersburgers.”
To this day we compare everything with 1913. That imaginary starting point creates a shaky confidence in there having been a time when “gymnasium girls” were “rosy-cheeked”, “priests” were “white”, “sunsets” were “crimson”, and the “impossible” was “possible.” This imagined era of White Guard romance opens up a key to a phantom identity titled “Petersburgers.”
“
Why is it, that so often, when a certain perspective opens up and you begin to think of life, you suddenly catch yourself thinking about death? And what you were thinking wasn’t deep, in some way, it was superficial.
More photos and stories on 128 pages
Order your copy of the book here
Order your copy of the book here
Thanks to everybody who agreed to be photographed for this story,
let myself in and found time for a couple of words.
Special thanks to Saint-Petersburg, Petrograd, Leningrad, St.Pete for the light. Special thanks to my friends Alexander Kitaev and Irina Gundareva for the seen, heard and remembered: without you my story would miss some places of intimacy.
Special thanks to my wife Julie Baechtold for her being there, where it was very much needed. Special thanks to my parents Olga Okhlopkova and Alexander Gordasevich for their patience. Special thanks to our daughter Vera Gordasevich for her understanding and for speaking distinctly.
Special thanks to Dmitry Khankin and «Triumph» gallery for the space and time.
The author is grateful to Artem and Alexey Loginov, «Stereoscope» Project, Vladimir Gordasevich and Vladimir Markov for the images used in the book design.
let myself in and found time for a couple of words.
Special thanks to Saint-Petersburg, Petrograd, Leningrad, St.Pete for the light. Special thanks to my friends Alexander Kitaev and Irina Gundareva for the seen, heard and remembered: without you my story would miss some places of intimacy.
Special thanks to my wife Julie Baechtold for her being there, where it was very much needed. Special thanks to my parents Olga Okhlopkova and Alexander Gordasevich for their patience. Special thanks to our daughter Vera Gordasevich for her understanding and for speaking distinctly.
Special thanks to Dmitry Khankin and «Triumph» gallery for the space and time.
The author is grateful to Artem and Alexey Loginov, «Stereoscope» Project, Vladimir Gordasevich and Vladimir Markov for the images used in the book design.
