Artek the post-soviet summer camp

Claudine Doury is a French artist and photographer born in Blois, headquartered in Paris. She received the Leica Oscar Barnack in 1999, the World Press and the price Paris Match in 2000 for her series “Peoples of Siberia”. By 2004, she received the award Yan planet EARTH Niepce and the price for her whole work. Her first monograph, Peoples of Siberia, was published in 1999 by Seuil.She also published Artek, a summer in the Crimea (ed.de La Martiniere, 2004) and Loulan Beauty (The Oak, 2007). She is represented by Galerie Camera Obscura in Paris and is a member of the agency VII.

Here you have an opportunity to see her collection of photography named “Artek”. Artek (Ukrainian and Russian: Арте́к) was an All-Union and international Young Pioneer camp in the Soviet Union. It was established on June 16, 1925 near the Black Sea in the town of Gurzuf located on the Crimean peninsula, near Medved Mountain, Ukraine. The camp first hosted eighty children but it grew rapidly. In 1969 it had an area of 3.2 km²; there were 150 buildings, including three medical buildings, a school, film studio Artekfilm, three swimming pools, a 7000-seater sports stadium, and playgrounds for other activities. Unlike most of the young pioneer camps, Artek was a year-round camp, thanks to the climate.

The pictures were taken from 1994 until 2003. There are no boring staged or formal photos. All images of Claudine show the true story about the Artek life of children in there. Some people found the photos absolutely delightful, others subjected them to devastating criticism saying they are being inappropriate. Ukrainian psychologists reproached Doury that she shot a series of photos for “adults who are prone to pedophilia.”

I would have to disagree with these Ukrainian psychologists, because I find these photos absolutely amazing, beautiful, magical and realistic at the same time. And if we’re going to talk about the pedophiles, well they will find every photo of a child attractive and provocative. The problem isn’t in the photos, but the eyes of a viewers.

Claudine Doury chose a very interesting topic for her work, changes and metamorphosis, both of the countries after the Soviet regime and the children in they tender teenage years. It is easy to see that this sort of niche will raise so many disputes and controversies. I like her work exactly for that reason, because a true art needs to make a fuss of everything, it has to raise the spirits and never leave the sleeping dogs lie.

images source
written by: Sanela Todjeras