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CONTENT
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LETTER FROM THE EDITOR ARSENIY NESKHODIMOV BENJAMIN JUHEL CORINNA HOLTHUSEN DAN NELKEN SHARON EILON
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HELENA BLOMQVIST KIRSTEN THYS VAN DEN AUDENAERDE ELSA PARRA & JOHANA BENAÏNOUS VICTORIA VYKHODTSEVA DAVID KATZENSTEIN
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“All photographs testify to time's relentless melt”, Susan Sontag alerts us in On Photography. In a society where images follow each other so accelerated that they don't even have time to melt, many of us take out the camera in an attempt to freeze them. In a way, this impulse also sustains the artistic repertoire of the photographers that we feature today in the 25th issue of FotoNostrum Magazine: a stop in a fast-paced world. Victoria Vykhodtseva's first stop occurs in Varanasi, then in Bodh Gaya, and last in central Thailand. At the same time, Sharon Elion, also a street photographer, focuses on the human factor through the ruins. On the other hand, Helena Blomqvist lets her imagination fly and places it behind the scenes, where art generates a genuine microcosm. It is precisely from here that Arseniy Neskhodimov's photographic practice also speaks, fictionalizing his own experience with his mental health. Elsa Parra & Johanna Benaïnous and Benjamin Juhel remark on the light in the shadows as a human inclination within our complexity, whereas Corinna Holthusen reflects on the artificiality of beauty, making a countenance of a critique. In this sense, Kirsten Thys van den Audenaerde presents other bourgeoning bodies as nudes from polaroids. Finally, Dan Nelken and David Katzenstein document two different worlds from the inside of their communities. Outside of the paper, inside the exhibition space, a significant number of courageous have already ventured to visit Around the world in 80 images, Steve McCurry´s first retrospective in Barcelona, hosted by FotoNostrum Photographic Center. We take this opportunity to invite you to keep navigating it with us. In addition, tomorrow the doors of the following temporary exhibitions will 4
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open on our second floor to continue our work promoting emerging talents: Chantal Rosas Cobian (United Kingdom), Dan Nelken (U.S), Isabella Franceschini and Fiorella Baldisserri (Italy), Joseph-Philippe Bevillard (Ireland), Lisa Cutler (U.S), Lloyd Campbell (U.S), Martijn Rijnberg (The Netherlands), Rosi Calderón (Mexico), Letta Sed (Poland), and our special guest, Istvan Kerekes (Hungary). Proposing a different panoramic of our world in 77 images. - Vanesa Peña Alarcón Editor
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All images on this spread are Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv, 2004
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All images © David Katzenstein
David Katzenstein
ew York fine arts photographer David Katzenstein has traveled throughout the world on his lifelong artistic journey as a visual chronicler of humanity. Using subject, light, and composition to create visual dynamism, he sets the stage for the viewer to be in the moment with him. His goal is to allow viewers to experience a scene through his eyes—as if they were standing there beside him. Steeped in the tradition of documentary photography, Katzenstein imbues his work with immediacy, emotional engagement, and deep respect for his subjects. Out of his fascination with ritual, Katzenstein has photographed pilgrimage as practiced in different cultures over the years. While visiting Memphis in the spring of 2017, he was inspired to expand on this theme by embarking on the project Outside the Lorraine Motel: Journey to a Sacred Place. The artist was introduced to the Mid-South region in the late 1980s while on assignment for Rolling Stone, documenting the roots of the blues in rural communities of Mississippi and Arkansas. fotonostrummag.com 141
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Saint Sophia Cathedral, Kyiv, 2004
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REMINISCE AN IMAGE FROM A PRESENT GAZE “Photographs are moments captured in time, and if successful, they continue to share the stories that exist within them for years to come. The collection of photographs presented here from the past serves as a window into a time and place that has recently been shattered by war,” says photographer David Katzenstein. In the fall of 2004, Katzenstein arrived in Kyiv, Ukraine, as part of a large, long-term project for AES, an international electric company with businesses in 28 developing countries and a passionate focus on social and environmental responsibility projects. The company arranged for him to work with local teams in each country he visited to visually explore their unique cultures through the proactive projects that AES was supporting. Before traveling to each country during the fouryear project, Katzenstein did extensive research, coming up with an outline of places and events to visit and, whenever possible, planning the itinerary to coincide with special holidays and annual events. His goal in Ukraine was twofold: first, he planned to visit the historical and cultural sites around Kyiv, and second, he wanted to spend
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time documenting one of the AES-supported local social responsibility projects. History lives in the present, and Katzenstein was reminded of this truth upon his arrival in Ukraine. One of the first places that he visited was Babi Yar, a ravine located on the outskirts of Kyiv, where in September of 1941, it was the site of a massacre as more than 33,000 Jews were murdered over two days period. Now a tranquil forest surrounded by urban sprawl, the memories of evil and sorrow lingered amongst the beautiful trees. Speaking of this experience, Katzenstein says, “My goal was to photograph the scene to pay homage to those lost — to me, the grove of trees represented the people who were buried far below the bucolic landscape.”
In the center of Kyiv stands the 11th century Saint Sophia Cathedral, a Unesco World Heritage site. Its beauty and importance to the city's history are unsurpassed, and it serves as both a Christian shrine and tourist attraction, with a daily multitude of visitors. Katzenstein spent time within the cathedral photographing both the pilgrims who prayed and lit candles and the priests who periodically processed through the chambers.
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Monument to the Unknown Soldier, Mariinsky Park, Kyiv, 2004
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Babi Yar, Kyiv, 2004
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Street Scene, Kyiv, 2004
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All images on this page are Father’s House Orphanage, Kyiv, 2004
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“The documentation of ritual is a major theme in my work, so the scenes depicted in the cathedral felt familiar to me; they fit into a larger mosaic of ritual that I’ve encountered in many other parts of the world.”
artist Barkley L. Hendricks, who stressed the importance of using the entire frame to guide the viewer and create visual tension. Early on, he realized that using a 35mm wide-angle lens to photograph scenes with people meant he needed to enter the scene to get close to his subjects. As part of his work documenting social Katzenstein never wanted to be an observer from responsibility, Katzenstein spent time visiting afar, and over time he found ways to be in the the orphanage Father’s House on the outskirts of middle of the moment without drawing attention Kyiv, photographing the daily lives of the children to himself. who resided and attended school there. He was “My goal is to offer viewers the experience impressed with the dedication of the orphanage of being part of a moment — not just a distant staff, who were comprised of both caregivers and witness to it. I want to create a journey through teachers. His hope was that each of these children journeys for the viewer.” — who ranged in age from infancy up to 18 and all of whom had been abandoned early in their Some of his recent work has taken Katzenstein to fragile lives — would find a loving home to take India, and in 2019 he photographed at the Kumbh them in. Mela, a Hindu pilgrimage to bathe in the sacred When hostilities broke out in Ukraine last month, waters of the Ganges River. Over five weeks that he revisited the orphanage’s Facebook page. All year, about 150 million people made the journey of the children were evacuated in the hopes of to Allahabad (officially known as Prayagraj) in the heading to safety far from the war. He realized state of Uttar Pradesh, which turned out to be the that the children he had photographed 18 years largest gathering of humanity in history. He was ago were now adults, many with children of their there for the last week of the festival, and on the own, having to defend their homeland. final day, it was estimated that 20 million people bathed in the river — not a place for someone While studying studio art and history in who does not enjoy crowds. He spent countless university, Katzenstein found influences from hours walking with the masses and, at one point, artists and writers. In particular, the novels of was even in danger of being trampled had his Vladimir Nabokov, with their intense attention guide not pulled him away from an impending to visual detail in each sentence, taught him the stampede. Danger notwithstanding, Katzenstein significance of brief visual composition. He also found that participating in the gathering was an studied photography independently with the experience of pure joy and human positivity.
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Father’s House Orphanage, Kyiv, 2004
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What’s next? Katzenstein’s current exhibition, Outside the Lorraine: A Photographic Journey to a Sacred Place, opened in April 2021 at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis, Tennessee. It is part of The Human Experience Project, a non-profit he co-founded to support lifelong learning, advance knowledge, and strengthen communities. Like all his photographic projects, this body of work documents people’s stories, inviting viewers to explore their own connection with the broader human narrative.
" Photographs are moments captured in time, and if successful,
they continue to share the stories that exist within them for years to come. The collection of photographs presented here from the past serves as a window into a time and place that has recently been shattered by war ".
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Independence Square, Kyiv, 2004
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Rose Farm, 2004
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MEDITERRANEAN HOUSE OF PHOTOGRAPHY
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