Valery Melnikov
by Valery Melnikov from Russia
When the first information about the new Covid 19 virus appeared, no one understood how large this pandemic could become. And there was still a hope that we would avoid it. But very soon the virus reached my city. A few weeks later, the authorities decided to introduce a self-isolation regime. I have never had such an experience. And I did not feel any fear of the virus, fear of getting sick or dying either. Perhaps this was due to my experience in covering military conflicts, where I faced real mortal danger. The amount of work for my agency has dropped dramatically, but there is more time for reflection.
I used to be a professional observer of the world, and now I have become an observer of myself. Gradually, a paranoid feeling of impending disaster crept up. I suddenly remembered the film Melancholia by Lars von Trier. The film about the end of the world because of the collision with an unknown planet rhymed incredibly with the virus that swept the whole world and the growing panic among my acquaintances. It was like a merciless experiment: strange metamorphoses occur in the human soul, when the planet was engulfed by an inevitable deadly virus. How should you stay in harmony with yourself and the world around you? What will the end be like?
The understanding of a simple fact helped. The only thing we can be absolutely sure of is that we will all die at the end. Perhaps at every moment of his life every person is in mortal danger, and we only by some miracle avoid it. Understanding this paradoxically gives life an incredible joy. And if you don’t panic, any breakfast will be the most delicious, because every morning can be the last.
SELF-PORTRAITS: PHOTOGRAPHERS IN CONFINEMENT
Curated by Svetlana Bachevanova
A collection of self-portraits made by photojournalists from five continents during the unprecedent lockdown due to the corona virus pandemic.
Photographers are people on the road, living to document the lives of others.
Constrained by the lockdown, many of them had their first experience of being still long enough to begin seeing and understanding small details about who they are, their lifestyles and values, that were overshadowed while they were busy. These self-portraits express their experience.
This is a unique collection of self-portraits from some of the best lenses in photojournalism at an historic moment.
Photographers in Confinement is a project in process and I welcome additional submissions from photojournalists at svetlana@fotoevidence.com
I am looking for potential exhibition partners in the USA and abroad.
Svetlana Bachevanova is a founder and publisher of FotoEvidence, long time photojournalist and curator.
