“dall’Esterno” is an exhibition of fine art photography from Eastern Europe
that was curated by Zosia Krasnowolska and originally organised by the*kickplate*project in Naples, Italy in
March 2014. It was our intention to present it to a wider audience and we
welcome the opportunity to show it again, this time in Wales, in our former gallery. We would like to
challenge stereotypes about Eastern Europeans that are prevalent in the West
and common both in Italy and in the UK.
The title,
“dall’Esterno”, literally means “from the outside”; however, it is also a game
of words as the word “Est” means “East” in Italian.
The only
generally established fact is that Eastern Europe is the Eastern part of the
European continent. However, which countries belong to it is much more
difficult to define.
According to
the Multilingual Thesaurus of the European Union, Eastern Europe includes:
Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria,
Croatia, the Czech Republic, Georgia, Hungary, Kosovo, Macedonia, Moldova,
Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, and Ukraine. According
to CIA World Factbook, Eastern Europe covers Moldova, Ukraine, Belarus,
Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia, and Southeastern Europe covers Romania, Bulgaria
and the Balkans.
Within
Eastern Europe itself there seems to be little consensus about its cultural
definition and or even geographical borders. Many countries seen in the West as
such would describe themselves rather as Central, Northern or Southern European,
and it is as much a question of identity as cultural heritage and historical or
geographical facts.
In the West,
however, it tends to be seen as a homogenous area, mostly a source of cheap
domestic workers and the background of social, economic and political problems.
This perception of Eastern Europe and its inhabitants stems from ignorance,
often enforced by its sensationalist portrayal by the media. Eastern European
artists are often overlooked and do not get the focus they deserve.
The aim of our
exhibition is to show Eastern Europe, or what is seen as Eastern Europe, from a
different perspective, that of fine art photography. We’re going to present
seven artists: Migle Backovaite (Lithuania), Mariya Kozhanova (Kaliningrad),
Sonia Firlej (Poland), Yulia Kazban (Russia & Ukraine), Marina Frolova
(Ukraine), Alexandra Şoman (Romania) and Stanka Koleva (Bulgaria), who use a
variety of photographic and printing techniques and represent a variety of
styles. They have all participated in different photographic projects; some of
them live in their countries of origin and some of them have moved to Western Europe;
not all of them make their living as artists.
We hope that
the exhibition will prompt our audience to reflect upon their ideas about
geography and identity, theirs and their neighbours’.
8th August – 6th September 2014
Tuesday-Saturday 10.30-6
The Kickplate Gallery, 26 Church Street, Abertillery
