“This project is a means to explore and grasp Vyksa’s collective memory. I first came across this phenomenon in historical articles and museums – through archival photographs and papers. Institutions build a linear narrative: going from one owner to another, from one achievement to another, compressing volumes of information into concise references. My professional historian's interest urged me to delve deeper: what remains unseen in the backdrop of the big picture? I started to look closely at things that were mentioned in passing, interviewing people about them.
Among the unseen were also thousands of forced labourers that arrived here at the end ofthe 18th century to launch the steelmaking industry. We do not know their names orbiographies, only the urban landscape stands a silent reminder – the hand-dug ponds andremains of prospecting shafts dotting the ground.
In the exhibition space, I meld these alternative, seemingly imperceptible stories, and place them on a red visual line that symbolizes resource extraction – the colour of fire and iron ore. By assembling an alternative narrative from unseen elements, I strive to restore justice – to give people and stories a chance to become physically and symbolically fixed in space and acquire a distinct voice in the history of Vyksa., ”said the photographer.
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