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Amadelio Film is a United Kingdom company which has so far
produced
three
documentary films about photographers. Jock Sturges (Line of Beauty and Grace), PEOPLE *
LOVE PHOTOS (see our review here) featuring four women, Tanyth
Berkeley, Rose and Olive (Traci Matlock
and Ashley MacLean) and Elinor Carucciand now Fragile: a film about
Evgeni Mokhorev.
Mokhorev was
born in St. Petersburg under the Soviet Union in 1967 and his
photography shows some of the grit of that era. According to his
biography, Mokhorev made his first photographs at the age of eight, and
he has worked as a professional photographer since 1986. He continues
to live and work in St. Petersburg.
According to the film, Mokhorev works mainly with street
photography and with young teens and children. In this aspect, Amadelio
has chosen another photographer who, like Jock Sturges, might be
considered controversial in North America. The topic is addressed by
the comment of one young boy who showed his photos at his school. Asked
by the photographer why he was not embarassed to be showing nudes of
himself he answered "I am not naked, naked is he who has taken these
pictures". One might extend a similar comment toward those who find
problems on viewing such images as Mokorev, Sturges or Sally Mann
create.
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The film
follows the photographer as he works on his street and model
photography, intermixing images of his finished works and interviews
with curators and critics. The pace is a bit "dreamy" with long shots
of the crew driving through the streets of St. Petersburg filming
through the window of the car.
With almost equal billing, the models are best represented by Nastya,
shown here in a still from the film. Mokhorev gives at least 50% credit
to his models for his work and you can see that there is quite a
negotiation between model and artist during the shoots.
Mokhorev's work reminds me a lot of Roger Ballen, black and white
images with a focus on
gritty scenes and a witty comment. The difference being
that it is a lot more difficult to see the beauty of Ballen's models.
Mokhorev deals much more directly with the question of grace within
decay, his models bringing a contrast between the two urges of life and
death, order and chaos, organization and entropy.
You will find more from
Amadelio at their blog: http://www.amadelio.com/vlog/
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