Messengers and Promises

Speculative reflections about ecology and the future on the example of an industrial city on the edge of the earth, in which doves suddenly appeared and settled ten years ago.

In Norilsk there are many pipes, strange stones underfoot and dove-colored clouds. Mountains are visible from almost all points of the city, giving people their most expensive resources. Previously, shamans climbed them to recharge with the energy of the Sun, which in summer refuses to go beyond the horizon.

About ten years ago, pigeons were noticed here, inhabiting a territory previously inaccessible to them due to the harsh climate. In the mythology of the peoples of the North, the most important place is occupied by winged demiurges. At the same time, images of synanthropic species, including pigeons, are not found for obvious reasons. John Berger wrote that animals are able to surprise us with their secrets addressed specifically to humans. Suddenly the moment has come when we should try to decipher their messages?

In the process of reflection, I direct my gaze to the environment, and I direct my thoughts to the future. The camera in my hands tangles the threads of temporality, and the resulting photographs depict a world that exists everywhere and nowhere, today and tomorrow.

Pigeon doesn’t really care. He lives where he lives. But it definitely means something.