White Sea Black Sea
A visual journey along the eastern borders of the European Union
Jens Olof Lasthein uses a wide angle, panoramic view, disrupted to such an extent that perspective is lost. He could be considered a landscape photographer in technique except that for over two decades his ‘fish eye’ records people and their stories at the cutting edges of socio-political transformations from far-eastern Europe and from Asia.
A scene by the river in late afternoon. A skeletal-curving-industrial bridge outlines the skyline in the background. Foreground: a man in a check shirt is gently holding with his hands, the hand of a smiling women. This scene is central, dramatic and intensely focuses the viewer’s attention foremost and beyond all others persons in the photograph. The drama is so apparent in that a woman holding a child stares intently, perhaps with both jealousy and with anxiety at the man who is holding the woman’s hand in his hands. In the left of the photograph, an introspective looking man casually dressed, leans against a tree. The entire scene is reminiscent of family albums snapshots. However, Lasthein is actually depicting a group of friends in the outskirts of Kallingrad who celebrate the recent death of their comrade with a bottle of vodka on the riverside.
Grigoriopol / Jens Olof Lasthein |