MOTHERLAND — Simon Roberts

October 24 — December 23, 2007

In July 2004, Simon Roberts began a year’s journey across Russia. Starting in the Russian Far East he travelled through the Siberian provinces, up the Kola peninsula and across to Kaliningrad, before heading down to the Northern Caucasus, the Altai Mountains and along the Volga River. He covered over 75,000 kilometres, making pictures in over 200 locations and creating one of the most extensive, comprehensive photographic accounts of this vast country by a Westerner.

Motherland is meant as a visual statement about contemporary Russia, fifteen years after the fall of the Soviet Union. The photographs are an attempt to counter some of the photographic representations of Russia that focus on collapse and deterioration – with their emphasis on the consequences of Russia’s turbulent past as opposed to the possibilities of its future – without sidestepping the realities of Russian daily life.

In this series, intimate and revealing portraits of contemporary Russians show us a diverse people, united by a sense of common identity and connected by a shared love of  'the Motherland', while breathtaking landscapes reveal the complexity and uniqueness of the country.

Motherland Media Release