josef chladek

on photobooks and books

Irina Popova - If You Have a Secret, Dostoevsky Publishing, 2014, Amsterdam

 

Hardcover, design by Anton Lepashov, edition of 100 handnumbered copies (English).

“No sentimentalty
towards the Motherland.
Absolutely none.
All what is left from the Motherland –
no official ideology, no patriotism,
just the sandy, dirty, dry, unfriendly, unfruitful soil.”
As children we used to play a game called “Secrets”. To hide something, to bury it under the ground: a flower, a leaf, a wrapper of a sweet under a glass. And it would become a secret, something important and wonderful.
The earth means connection to the land, your only visible image of the Motherland.
In 2009 I left Russia, and since then I look for this image.
To tell you a story of my native land, I came back to my archives. Hundreds of thousands of images, seven years of photographic life, the incredibly personal stories formed together this book.
This book is a symbol of an endless country, a story of a person of “the lost generation” - between the ruined Soviet Union, chaos of the nineteens and development of a new authoritarian unit.
Sometimes this book makes you laugh, sometimes it makes you cry. You feel at the same time the unbearable pain and highest joy. It is this combination of the complicated, the uncontrollable and the absurd, which we call “the mysterious Russian soul”.

Available at fotodepartament.ru.

Pages: 128+64
Place: Amsterdam
Year: 2014
Publisher: Dostoevsky Publishing
Size: 17 x 23 cm (approx.)







 Irina Popova - If You Have a Secret (Front)

Irina Popova - If You Have a Secret (Front)

 Irina Popova - If You Have a Secret (Spine)

Irina Popova - If You Have a Secret (Spine)

 Irina Popova - If You Have a Secret (Back)

Irina Popova - If You Have a Secret (Back)




Sample page 1 for book  Irina Popova – If You Have a Secret

Sample page 1 for book " Irina Popova – If You Have a Secret", josefchladek.com

Sample page 2 for book  Irina Popova – If You Have a Secret

Sample page 2 for book " Irina Popova – If You Have a Secret", josefchladek.com

Sample page 3 for book  Irina Popova – If You Have a Secret

Sample page 3 for book " Irina Popova – If You Have a Secret", josefchladek.com

Sample page 4 for book  Irina Popova – If You Have a Secret

Sample page 4 for book " Irina Popova – If You Have a Secret", josefchladek.com

Sample page 5 for book  Irina Popova – If You Have a Secret

Sample page 5 for book " Irina Popova – If You Have a Secret", josefchladek.com

Sample page 6 for book  Irina Popova – If You Have a Secret

Sample page 6 for book " Irina Popova – If You Have a Secret", josefchladek.com

Sample page 7 for book  Irina Popova – If You Have a Secret

Sample page 7 for book " Irina Popova – If You Have a Secret", josefchladek.com

Sample page 8 for book  Irina Popova – If You Have a Secret

Sample page 8 for book " Irina Popova – If You Have a Secret", josefchladek.com

Sample page 9 for book  Irina Popova – If You Have a Secret

Sample page 9 for book " Irina Popova – If You Have a Secret", josefchladek.com

Sample page 10 for book  Irina Popova – If You Have a Secret

Sample page 10 for book " Irina Popova – If You Have a Secret", josefchladek.com

Sample page 11 for book  Irina Popova – If You Have a Secret

Sample page 11 for book " Irina Popova – If You Have a Secret", josefchladek.com

Sample page 12 for book  Irina Popova – If You Have a Secret

Sample page 12 for book " Irina Popova – If You Have a Secret", josefchladek.com

Sample page 13 for book  Irina Popova – If You Have a Secret

Sample page 13 for book " Irina Popova – If You Have a Secret", josefchladek.com

Sample page 14 for book  Irina Popova – If You Have a Secret

Sample page 14 for book " Irina Popova – If You Have a Secret", josefchladek.com

Sample page 15 for book  Irina Popova – If You Have a Secret

Sample page 15 for book " Irina Popova – If You Have a Secret", josefchladek.com

Sample page 16 for book  Irina Popova – If You Have a Secret

Sample page 16 for book " Irina Popova – If You Have a Secret", josefchladek.com

Sample page 17 for book  Irina Popova – If You Have a Secret

Sample page 17 for book " Irina Popova – If You Have a Secret", josefchladek.com

Other books by Irina Popova (see all)
Other books tagged Russia (see all)
Other books tagged Russian (see all)
Other books by Dostoevsky Publishing (see all)


 

Hardcover, design by Anton Lepashov, edition of 100 handnumbered copies (English).

“No sentimentalty
towards the Motherland.
Absolutely none.
All what is left from the Motherland –
no official ideology, no patriotism,
just the sandy, dirty, dry, unfriendly, unfruitful soil.”
As children we used to play a game called “Secrets”. To hide something, to bury it under the ground: a flower, a leaf, a wrapper of a sweet under a glass. And it would become a secret, something important and wonderful.
The earth means connection to the land, your only visible image of the Motherland.
In 2009 I left Russia, and since then I look for this image.
To tell you a story of my native land, I came back to my archives. Hundreds of thousands of images, seven years of photographic life, the incredibly personal stories formed together this book.
This book is a symbol of an endless country, a story of a person of “the lost generation” - between the ruined Soviet Union, chaos of the nineteens and development of a new authoritarian unit.
Sometimes this book makes you laugh, sometimes it makes you cry. You feel at the same time the unbearable pain and highest joy. It is this combination of the complicated, the uncontrollable and the absurd, which we call “the mysterious Russian soul”.

Available at fotodepartament.ru.

Pages: 128+64
Place: Amsterdam
Year: 2014
Publisher: Dostoevsky Publishing
Size: 17 x 23 cm (approx.)