Saturday, March 12, 2011

Folk as Queer.

Images from the Library of Congress archives. Found via the wonderful world of Miss Moss!

"The Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii Collection features color photographic surveys of the vast Russian Empire made between ca. 1905 and 1915. Frequent subjects among the 2,607 distinct images include people, religious architecture, historic sites, industry and agriculture, public works construction, scenes along water and railway transportation routes, and views of villages and cities. An active photographer and scientist, Prokudin-Gorskii (1863-1944) undertook most of his ambitious color documentary project from 1909 to 1915. The Library of Congress purchased the collection from the photographer's sons in 1948." Quoted from the Library of Congress site

Wow! striking! On one level I find them kinda eerie, straight outta that video tape in the movie The Ring; but mostly I'm fascinated and inspired by all that colour, posture, gesture, cultural diversity, heritage, folklore, storytelling, architecture, design, nature, politics and so, so, sooooOOOoo much more!!!
I can only imagine what the photographer Prokudin-Gorskii must have experienced while visiting, surveying and documenting the culture, history and landscape of these places.
You can visit the Library of Congress link to see more images of people, landscapes and so much more.

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