The photographs of Pascale Bazire (Pascale Bazire) capture the atmosphere of Moscow's residential suburbs.
For this selection we have drawn on photographs from Moscow Serie 3 (Moscow Serie 3), depicting a snowy winter. During a visit to the Russian capital in 2013, Pascale Bazire was so inspired by the spirit of the city that she set aside painting and picked up a camera.
"Anyone who has spent time here will have felt the weight of the seventeen-storey concrete blocks, each indistinguishable from the next — the stifling heat in summer, and in winter the gloom of unrelenting grey."
For those who live in one of Moscow's residential suburbs, these scenes may feel close to home — quite literally. The city's outskirts can be remarkably alike: the same post-Soviet tower blocks, parks with small ponds, familiar courtyards. Anyone who has spent time here will have felt the weight of the seventeen-storey concrete blocks, each indistinguishable from the next — the stifling heat in summer, and in winter the gloom of unrelenting grey.
And yet these residential suburbs have a charm of their own — something found in the unassuming domesticity of a big city's outskirts, where in summer, in the parks,, people sunbathe, swim and grill shashlik without a second thought, while in winter the courtyards fill with snowmen and children sledging on whatever comes to hand. Here you can throw a jacket over your house clothes to nip to the corner shop and greet half a dozen neighbours on the way.
In summer the courtyards and pitches are used for football; in winter they become skating rinks. For many people, these places are bound up with warm childhood memories. The unhurried pace of the residential suburbs stands in sharp contrast to the frenetic life of central Moscow, where everything contemporary and fashionable is concentrated.
The photographer was able to discern, beneath this uniform bleakness, a warmth of spirit that is sometimes hidden even from the residents themselves.
"My current project in Russia is focused on the search of the Russian identity. So far, my work has been more documentary oriented. But poetry being a vital part of the Russian culture, I naturally evolved toward a more artistic approach of photography"
"My current project in Russia is focused on the search of the Russian identity. So far, my work has been more documentary oriented . But poetry being a vital part of the Russian culture, I naturally evolved toward a more artistic approach of photography"
We have written before about urban peripheries — though Japanese ones. It is fascinating to compare cities in such different countries and the spirit that pervades them.
