How should we look for the language of this story about genocide, about the Volhynia Massacre, and how can one make it universal and comprehensible?
By NERIA BARRA PHOTO FROM ‘Echo’ by Maksymilian Rigamonti.(photo credit: COURTESY OF THE ADAM MICKIEWICZ INSTITUTE)
Echo is an award-winning book by photographer Maksymilian Rigamonti and writer Magdalena Rigamonti that was first published in 2018. The project was the result of numerous trips the couple made to Volhynia, an area in present-day Ukraine, where a massacre 70 years ago wiped out whole communities from the face of the Earth.Now, as part of the 2020 International Photography Festival Tel Aviv (through November 21), the two are presenting for the first time an adaptation of their materials in an exhibition. The exhibition, presented in collaboration with The Adam Mickiewicz Institute of Warsaw, Poland, follows in the tracks of the book.The adaptation for outdoor exhibition was done by Maya Anner, the chief curator of the International Photography Festival. As part of the festival’s online program, the pair of creators will hold an online event titled “Only an Echo Remains,” on Monday, November 16, at 6 p.m., in which they will talk about their work process, their book and the transition to the exhibition.How can we talk about places that are not there, that disappeared from the face of the Earth over 70 years ago? How should we look for the language of this story about genocide, about the Volhynia Massacre, and how can one make it universal and comprehensible?While creating the project, the two went on several trips to a place whose inhabitants no longer exists, in an attempt to document the abandoned historical area of Volhynia, where life was full of villages and towns inhabited by mixed populations until the massacres of 1943.The body of work incorporates the award-winning book that poetically captures the elusive echo of the past and focuses on the void. The book won the Best Book Award for 2018 in the Grand Press Photo competition, the POY competition and special commendation from the IPA.Echo is composed of photos and first-hand reports. It is a tale about history and senseless cruelty. To view the book, one has to unbend a cover that is pinned down with a magnet. The inside resembles a pile of archive photographs.Echo consists of 12 cards that can be unfolded like a map. Each one contains four black-and-white photos. A golden sticker is the only color accent in the book. On each page, there are several verses of text, the name of the village and its GPS coordinates. Rushing the reading would be impossible, as it would end with breaking off one of the pages or skipping a story included in the hidden spread.The photographs are captured in all shades of gray, no black and white because, say the creators, “There are no such colors in history.” The images are wrapped in gold, resembling old picture frames or inscriptions on tombstones. The rough cover resembles the dark, fertile soil of Volhynia.The Rigamontis say “Echo is a tombstone, a monument, a warning.”For more information, go to photoisrael.org/en/festival-workshops-and-events/echo-project
Related TagsUkrainegenocidefilm festival
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