MARIA POKROVSKAYA

Built with Berta.me

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Behind the Curtain
2015. Photograph installation, digital print, 6 x 6 cm / 188 prints on foam board, metal wire
These images were carved from Google Street View, they represent different districts of Moscow. I drew attention to the function of Google to blur the faces. I think that when we can't recognize the faces, it causes anxiety, a sense of danger, to some extent provokes paranoia. It fascinates me when we can't clearly define what is happening in the picture. What kind of relationships are there between those people? Is a man strangling a woman or just embracing her? All these things we define by a facial expression, without which we can only speculate. We imagine some criminal situation, we feel that something bad happens. And I suppose, perhaps, it works the same way at the state level – when people look like one continuous mass – "population" – they pose a threat. That is what I would like to show by this collection – the glance of a machine, not only an automatic camera but also an apparatus of power.

The Installation, consisting of many small squares with photos on both sides, strung on the metal wire, looks like a curtain which we have to pass through. It's like a portal, entrance to our city, a little uncomfortable and even abrasive as Moscow itself.