Page 41 - DIVA_2_2022

Culture

that I should put all of them together. After
a day or two pulling out all of the portraits,
I looked at them I thought,” Wow, it is like a
kaleidoscope, it is such a big variety of people.”
It took me seven or eight years of travel to
come to a simple conclusive question, which
was: what was most memorable for me? It was
these persons, their cultures.

You can see, for instance, Russia boarders China,
and you can see on the outside they look similar
but the culture is different. If you see the culture,
it is different, so it’s also the case of the language,
it’s completely different. People’s mentally are
different. Every time I go to a different place,
especially because I go to remote places, people
live simple lives and are very open to foreigners.
They never ask me where I come from, they do
not judge you by your nationality, race.

My personal experiences, every time I
experience these encounters, they were very
nice and hospitable to me. If I needed some help, how I started on this project. The first idea
they would always come to me, inviting me to was thus about peace and tolerance, then the
stay with them, give me food. Then, I thought second idea also joined. When I travel I go to
that I should tell about it. I thought it would remote places, and I go to visit different ethnic
be a brilliant idea just to show the diversity of groups. When I started doing that, I realized
the world through the portraits. So I wanted to that there are so many different ethnic groups,
have these portraits, where people wear their some that are so small that people have never
traditional clothing, which is also something heard about them. Actually, my projects have
different from place to place. It’s very colorful. I now been most known for photographing
thought that my message that I want to convey, ethnic minorities.
whatever culture, wherever we are, is that we
are all the same human beings wherever you Many people do not know that we have
go. In the media they try to create a difference. many ethnic groups in Russia. In Siberia for
I have been living in the Western countries, in instance, we have 41 different ethnic groups.
Russia, I see all this information that is pictured I spent almost 3 years visiting them, and I
from different angles. still haven’t photographed all of them. Every
country is like that, and unfortunately many
What I just wanted to say, from one little man, of these old cultures are disappearing now
for me, it does not matter, we are all are like because of globalization.
brothers and sisters.
Q: It is a travelling exhibit, so where has
We are all the same, and what we have to care it been exhibited and where is it heading
about is to live in peace, and to try to respect next?
each other. If we do it, it would be the way to It started in UNESCO in Paris, in the summer
save this planet, because otherwise we will 2021. Then it was at the Council of Europe in
just destroy ourselves eventually with all these Strasbourg, and then it came here to Geneva.
hostilities. Next stop is Berlin, and then after that I do not
know. I would like to show it as much as possible.
So, I thought this idea is worth doing, and
it gave me the energy to travel again. That is MF

0 w w w. d i va i n t e r n at i o n a l . c h w w w. d i va i n t e r n at i o n a l . c h