Virtual exhibitions  /  Modern life - two shores: between East and West

About exhibition

Modern life – two shores: between East and West
 
Crossing the sea has always been associated with a mythical act of crossing the boundaries of the old world. The sea is both, the opportunity and the barrier. Not that long ago the Baltic Sea was a barrier between the West and the East. Our imagination used to be triggered by the ‘foreign’ things cast on the East coast – they promised a world of opportunity and freedom in the West. Nowadays crossing the Baltic Sea is easily accessible to anyone and is just another privilege of modern life.
 
This photographic project consists of landscapes and portraits. I decided to focus on subjective experiences and different mood rather than attempting to document the process of the journey. Photographs taken during the winter time, when the amount and duration of daylight is very limited, represent nostalgia.
 
When the ferry was crossing the waters in the black night, I could only see waves as far as the light of the deck could reach into the water. The black abyss surrounded me – with no beginning or end, no boundaries. In my ordinary travel spot – the seat in the bar on the seventh deck – I sat and observed the people around me and all those dancing girls, and I wondered which group of travellers I belong to. Some people, who had tough luck on the East coast, have left their homes and families and are travelling to the other shore looking for their El Dorado.  It is not a cultural exchange, it is merely migration. Those travellers who come from the West coast looking for entertainment on sale are simply having a good time. For other people it is just an ordinary work routine – shipping cargos four days a week. Ferry is a meeting place for all those people. Stories that you hear being told in the middle of the sea at night are more tangible than life.
I suddenly realised that I miss home.
  

Photos