The Photography of Alexey Titarenko

Subject: Photography

Keywords: Art of Photography black-and-white Eīhwaz St. Petersburg

After the Soviet Union collapsed (1991), Alexey Titarenko (1962) took what may be his best photographs in his hometown of St. Petersburg. At least, many of his most famous works, found in series like City of Shadows (Город теней). There was much to document, but Titarenko did more than that.

St. Petersburg

‘Major photo series include “City of Shadows” (1992-1994), “Black and White Magic of St. Petersburg” (1995-1997), and “Time Standing Still” (1998-1999). In those series Titarenko paints a bitter picture of a Russia (seen through the lens of St. Petersburg), where people live in a world of unrealized hopes and where time seems to have stopped.’ (All About Photo)

Alexey Titarenko – City of Shadows Series, St. Petersburg – Photography
(Eīhwaz, 2014, 5 mins)

‘I saw people on the verge of insanity, in confusion: They looked like shadows, undernourished and worn out.’ (MyModernMet)

Alexey Titarenko – Magic of St. Petersburg (1991-2009)
(Eīhwaz, 2014, 8 mins)

‘I felt an intense desire to articulate these sufferings and grieving, to visualize them through my photographs, to awaken empathy and love for my native city’s inhabitants.’ (DuckRabbit)

New York

Titarenko also photographed outside of Russia, including in New York, where he now resides. See, for example, Alexey Titarenko: New York (Monovisions, 2015). Also photos from elsewhere in Alexey Titarenko (devuelta fotos, 2020, 2 mins) and below (3squinas Fotografia, 2018, 4 mins).

Nomenklatura of Signs

Soviet life in signs and symbols. A series of photomontages (1986-1991), made ‘at the crossroads of two different epochs, the totalitarian regime and Mikhail Gorbachev’s perestroika.’ (Alexey Titarenko)

Alexey Titarenko: Nomenklatura of Signs
(Alexander Galan, 2020, 1 min)

Artist Series

For a portrait and Titarenko in his own words, see Artist Series: Alexey Titarenko (The Art of Photography, 2016, 10 m). And from the same channel: