NEW INTERVIEW

#themoldovandiaries

Interview with Cesare de Giglio and Paolo Paterlini

Can you tell us something about your project 'The Moldovan Diaries'?

The first time we've been in Moldova was around two years ago, during a broader trip. For the project, we have been three times during this year: on January and February, on April and on August and September. We were interested in 'charting' Moldova on the base of its several regions and cultural identities, rather than on some topics or storylines.
We have always been interested in issues regarding European countries and former Soviet Republics, not only under a professional perspective but also as travelers.

Why Moldova?

Two years ago, for example, we had a long trip around the so-called 'Silk Road', which was the subject of our documentary 'Routes – the journey'. Our main purpose was to show how many stereotypes about former Soviet Republics have nothing to do with the social, political, even landscape reality of those countries. Since then, we went deep into the subject and we spent much time collecting information about Moldova, because among all the former Soviet Republics it is the one at the border between two different worlds (at least, in the collective unconscious).

After researching for some months, we discovered that there are very few reports about Moldova which are not stereotypical, is to say that do not deal with the mostly-known topics (the problem of Transnistria, Moldavia as the poorest European country, the wine production, human trafficking, emigration, etc.). There is a huge blank spot, especially figurative one, regarding Moldova and its society as a whole.

Therefore, it was important for us to, on the one hand, provide some comprehensive and updated information about Moldova to a Western audience, who is generally devoid of it, and, on the other hand, try to compose a 'visual portrait' of the country and its internal diversity. Because of that, we focused more on identity issues than on geopolitical ones, even though we are aware the latter are fundamental for the future of the country. We can say our project is an attempt to give a broad answer to the question 'what is the Republic of Moldova?'

Western European audience is the exclusive target of your work or you think it can be interesting also for a Moldavian one?

As we previously said it is conceived mainly for a Western audience but, on the other hand, many of the people with whom we got in touch during our trip were sincerely supporting the project because they found it relevant. At the same time, it is difficult to speak about a 'Moldavian audience'. The capital city Chisinau is not representative at all: it is a modern, changing, European-oriented city, completely different from the rest of the country, which is, in my opinion, torn from the main modernizing processes. The problem is the access to information: if in Chisinau there surely is a part of the population who speaks English and is passionate about acquiring more knowledge, in the rest of the country (apart from a few cities) the situation is developing very slowly. Therefore, we would say that our project will difficultly get an audience there, except maybe for that people who are close to some of the stories we told.

How was your methodological approach to the people you interviewed?

We tried to be as neutral as possible without any preconceptions or particular requests. Our field of interest was regarding identity issues but we didn't take the side neither of the European part nor of the Russian one. We focused just on listening people's opinions at the point that we didn't spent so much time in explaining our project to some of them, because we thought it could have been made the interview less genuine.

Of course we wanted people to be aware of the reasons behind our project, but at the same time we discovered that giving too many details could have been counterproductive or misleading.        

Can you explain what 'identity issue' means to you?

Well, it was something that spontaneously emerged from the words of the people interviewed. We basically asked to tell their biography but, in one way or another, issues concerning 'identity' were always taken into account. If you think about Moldavian history, it cannot be otherwise: there are so many elements which refer to 'identity', namely the language you are speaking, the country you used to live before the Republic of Moldova was formed, the conflicts you saw or you took part in...

Again, we didn't direct the interviews towards certain topics or perspective but the information that people gave us naturally led us to identify 'identity' as the core issue of Moldova.

Do you think this diversity is an asset or rather an obstacle to the Moldavian society?

Of course it is an asset; Moldova in our opinion has to preserve all these different identities. From the geopolitical point of view, Moldova had a troubled story which brought to arbitrary borders. Because of that, the inner strength of the country lies in its social diversity and plurality, which make it a natural 'bridge' between the so-called European and Russian worlds.

Separatist tendencies as well as centralizing ones in our opinion are not a solution. The real problem is the sense of 'citizenship'. Maybe, the only positive legacy from the Soviet era is exactly a solid concept of 'citizenship' you can still clearly grasp if you speak with old people, which is a more effective way than the European one of nowadays.

Despite the lack of political freedom and disregard for human rights, the Soviet Union managed to create a supranational sense of citizenship which was connecting all the ethnic identities while preserving their peculiarity. By contrast, European sense of citizenship is something formal to which people adhere in a more superficial way than the Soviet one. That is a topic which should be taken into account if we speak about the choice between integration with Europe and integration with Russia.

In our opinion, being part of the European Union can be a great opportunity for Moldova, but at the same time we think that the country will lose part of its distinctive traits: it will probably become another work market exploited by rich countries such as Bulgaria or Romania.

What is in your opinion one of the main problems of Moldova?

Well, the political situation is really bad, especially concerning corruption. According to what we saw, there is a small group of people who understood the right direction the country should take, but it's a minority.

Also, we have to consider the situation in the villages: political patronage is common there and it is something difficult to change. A case point is a woman with whom we spoke in a small village in Cahul district who explained us how politicians use to 'buy' votes in exchange for works in the village (the rebuilding of a church, in that case). It was sad to talk with lots of youngsters resourceful people who were well-educated and wanted to change Moldavian reality but who were stopped by a political class and a bureaucracy which are maybe the worst in Europe. This is a big problem: these kinds of people are usually moving to other countries and Moldova is losing its future political class.   

        

Interview by Francesco Brusa

More info:   

Website ofthe project

VimeoChannel

PortfolioCesare de Giglio

About theproject (in Romanian)

Pictures by: Cesare de Giglio& Paolo Paterlini

NEW INTERVIEW!

Artiom Zavadovsky: "The biggest problem is to reach out the LGTB community and draw their attention and to motivate them to participate in different levels"

When did you decide to become an activist?

I don’t know if it was a very deliberate decision, I hadn’t been involved in any civil activism until I moved to Chisinau, when I was 19.  I started the university and I finally was able to visit the GENDERDOC-M Center, as a beneficiary taking books or watching movies. Then I decided to do something for the organization, because I had a good level of English so I thought that maybe it could be helpful. This is how I became a volunteer of the organization, but I can’t say that I decided to be an activist, so it was a very natural process, being a volunteer and then started to participate in street actions. Now I am the  coordinator of the LGTB Community Development Programme.

What kind of work is being developed at GENDERDOC-M?

GENDERDOC-M center was founded in 1998, it works as a community center for LGTB people and it is a lobby and advocacy rights organization which advocates for the equality of LGTB people in Moldova. It is the only LGTB center in the country, so it combines everything: advocacy group, help care provider... I was employed in LGTB program, local coordinator so I worked mostly with the situation of LGTB people and respect for their rights. So it was a theoretical work combined with the monitoring and documentation of discriminations, violence…  Now my work related mostly with community organizing and carrying out different activities, including seminars, discussion clubs, art labs, information activities. All the activities aimed at raising visibility of LGTB people targeting general population… so this program is focused on empowering LGTB people in becoming more active in defending their own rights, to decrease the level of homophobia and transphobia and, actually, on motivating them to become those voices that they want to hear and, of course, by doing this, raise awareness of LGTB issues in Moldovan general society.

How many people are involved?

We are 9 staff members and we have volunteers. We also have members of the organization but not that many…around 40 and around 2000 beneficiaries, people who benefit from the services the organization provides.

Do you have any difficulties?

The biggest problem is to reach out the LGTB community and draw their attention and to motivate them to participate in different levels, because I don’t know why but LGTB community in Moldova is not engaged in the community development neither interested in receiving information from the ones who have it. There can be different reasons for this: maybe they’re not interested, they might be afraid to do this or some other reasons…I do not face any problems doing my work as well as my colleagues because we are a registered organization and we are legal according to the current legislation.  There are some anti-gay groups that tried to constrict our activity… for example, in September they attacked our office with eggs without having any legal persecution from the authority but we are subjected to some kind of threats or violence from antigay groups.

You know who they are?

Yes, they’re groups who share neonazi ideology and are inspired by similar movements in Russia.

Do you have any publications?

We publish different materials: books, reports, broachers for LGTB people, professionals and different audiences… We also have a magazine quarterly called Zerkalo (means mirror) which is about LGTB news in Moldova and abroad… it is distributed for free.

Can you tell us something about the actual situation of LGTB community in Moldova?

There is no such understanding of LGTB people as a community, because they’re not engaged in the communitarian organization neither in gathering together under common goals. Transgenders are the most invisible part of the community and they do not advocate for their rights, there is no transactivism in Moldova. Gays and lesbians are very different from one person to another but generally speaking they’re under pressure of this society’s attitude that doesn´t allow them to come out and show their identities.

Most of gays and lesbians in Moldova have a kind of double life when they’re themselves with friends they maybe also have relationships but, on the other hand, they’re forced to lie and hide to the rest of the people whom they interact with. This situation creates a lot of problems, because they kind of internalize homophobia that doesn’t allow them to come out. Then the society is very homophobic because they don’t know gay and lesbians people who are out and they’re part of their families.  This creates problems when gays and lesbians face discrimination or violence if their identities are known or disclosed or they’re suspected to be gay or lesbians and then they are afraid to report this to the police or any other authorities, because they’re afraid of the police’s attitude. In many cases they do not report this violence. Also there is a vicious circle when people don’t come out, because the society doesn’t accept them.

So, are you trying to create a community feeling to be stronger?

Yes, I don’t know if there is a community feeling or you have to create one, because this initiatives should come from the bottom to the top. What we want to do is to provide information and to encourage them to be who they are, to be able to defend their own rights… because from our experience, in most of the cases gays and lesbians do not know much about what rights they have, in which situations they can be protected and what in general they should be aware of.

Differences between the first pride parade and the last one in 2014?

There is a change, the first festival was unknown, more like underground celebration which wasn’t that visible in the society… What became more visible in the society were the parades that took place in 2013 and 2014 which brought a big visibility also to the festival. Previously the festivals were attended by the community members.  In the last years we noticed that there were not the most popular activities from the center, the most popular are parties or movie screening, for example… Then we decided to shift the target audience of the festival and to make the general society the target audience of the festival. That is why in recent years more and more activities are open to a more general public but there are still some activities that are private or closed.  Somehow the attitude has changed: the situation is better now. Another topic is the quality of the debates, that is really poor, because there is a lot of homophobia and transphobia but nevertheless the subject is arising in the society and every march and festival the attitudes shift to more open-minded.

So, do you think people are more open to the diversity nowadays?

It’s hard to estimate how open they are but suddenly they become less aggressive… This is also due to political change in the country. Since we are in this European integration process the use of political matters or scapegoating of LGTB people have decreased. For this reason, now LGTB issues are not exploited in politics in order to shift the public´s attention from the real government’s problems, like the invented ones that are happening in Russia.

Also, the cover by media of LGTB issues has changed significantly: if before the media were reflecting on LGTB issues in a very outrageous and stereotypical way, using very provocative pictures, now they are doing it in a more balanced way, trying to use local footage or symbolic pictures rather than scandalous and provocative pictures.

Is there any kind of relation between politics and LGTB community?

Even pro-european parties, which are supposed to take care of LGTB agenda, are not really addressing LGTB people… the only thing that they’re ready to do is to promote a general equality in the society, without saying LGTB or without discuss specific problems and how they can be solved. There is no political will to do this, right now we are waiting for the elections so we don’t know which kind of policy will get into the parliament, if it will be better, the same or worst, so we don’t know what to expect. Only after the elections we will be able to see what improved. Due to the huge Russian influence in Moldova, it is deteriorating our situation because we share the same media and cultural space, political issues, and, of course there are some pro-Russia political parties that use homophobia to distinguish themselves from the parties that are advocating for European integration.

Regarding the legal framework, is there a proper legislation?

There are laws existing in Moldova, but they cannot be applied to LGTB people due to the fact that they are not applied, as it happens with the law enforcement. We have an antidiscrimination law and some other laws that are universals. Otherwise, we don’t have a hate crime legislation which specifically targets sexual and gender identity. Nevertheless we have some hate crime legislation that protects social, religious and ethnic groups. So, when someone reports some hate crime to the police office, they don’t want to verify it as a hate crime because they claim that LGTB people do not represent a social group that can be protected by this specific law. That is why we are working on improving the actual legislation and we want to introduce an amendment in the current criminal court that will be also applying to LGTB people. As a result, if a crime were committed on the ground of sexual orientation or gender identity it has to be classified as an aggravating circumstance.

Do you agree with the statement ‘Nothing seems to change’ when talking about laws implementation?

It is all about society attitudes: it is just one thing to adopt a law, the other thing is to implement it and, then, the third thing is to actually educate the society about these laws and how they work. But usually in our countries, where the change comes from the top to the bottom, it is really hard to convince members of parliament to adopt that particular law to change the situation, because they are a part of the same society, they represent the same people and they do not want to take unpopular decisions that would make them lose their votes. And if they adopt such unpopular laws it is not because they really want to improve the situation, but due to the fact that they want to receive money from some institutions. So, when it comes to actual society, people’s attitudes do not change because of some laws are adopted, people’s attitudes change when these laws are applied. The better they are applied, the more people realize that actually their behavior should change, otherwise there will be sanction for it. Legal framework is very important, but it will not change anything if it is not properly applied, so we have to distinguish between good legislation and implementation by the executive authorities and if there is no political will to do this, no matter how good the laws are, they will not work and there will be not any change.

Do you carry out any kind of Activities for the society in general?

Our public activities are aimed to raise awareness in the society. Sometimes, it is really hard because even if you organize a movie screening, the room is empty. Although it seems an interesting topic for the society but then they won’t come. In order to do this work with the society it is difficult because people are so different and you have to target your activities to a specific fragment of the society.

 We work with university students about gender identity and sexual orientation  because they are future professionals so they are people who must know this information in order to provide better services and treat people better. We also work with journalists, medical professionals, lawyers, police and this kind of target in a very particular way. In the society it is really hard because it is so different and diverse but when we do public events we try to make them as open as possible to a general public.

Are you developing project outside Chisinau?

We work mostly in Chisinau. We have groups in Balti and Tiraspol… sometimes we organize seminars outside Chisinau… there is no audience in villages for example… how open they will be to receive this information? Sometimes, trough other organization we try to convey our message, putting it into the mainstream human rights perspective and then participate in common activities with other organizations which are aimed to change small villages’ mentality.  We talk about human rights in general, diversity in general, because LGTB issues are a taboo, especially if you work with high school students, so you need a way to convey the message in other words.

So, is there a big difference between Chisinau and the rest of Moldova?

Yes, Chisinau is a big city so it’s different. Many people choose to come here to live.

Which is the main obstacle to achieve an equal society?

The mentality is quite steady; it doesn’t change because there are no social or educational programs to achieve this. The education system is very conservative, it lacks several things:  human rights approach, sexual education, among others. Nobody talks about this and if you don’t talk about those topics with children, they will grow up perpetrating the previous mentality. According to this, the biggest difficulty is about the mentality: in order to change it you have to change the system, the educational system and adopt the right approach to every single program (social, political, etc.) existing in the country. However, since there is no political will it is quite impossible to make a change.

Do you consider some institutions an obstacle?

Church is the biggest transmitter of homophobia in the country. It is the most trusted institution in the country and the church manipulates people’s trust. The church institutions is very much like a business.

Is Russia affecting the mentality here?

Yes, people in Moldova watch Russian TV programs, so they will see the same information as in Russia, the same anti homosexual propaganda and they share the same point of view.

In your opinion, what is the future for LGTB community?

I don’t know we need to wait for the elections.

Are there more LGTB organizations in Moldova?

No, GENDERDOC-M is the only one.

Are you also working with other topics? Like, for example, feminism?

Yes, we’re trying to implement this aspect… there are women organizations in Moldova but they are not feminist…

Speaking about women discrimination, is there a big difference between men and women in the work field?

There is discrimination in works places or discriminatory announcement or they might be not that big difference about the salary, but woman are disadvantaged when they get pregnant and many employers see it as a threat and they fire them. Finally, the society attitude is very conservative, regarding women as the ones who should stay at home and cook. We want to bring the topic of inequality of men and women and how misogyny affects LGTB people too, because homophobia also derives from the misogynistic attitude.

What is the current situation in former soviet republics?

It’s much worse. I think the situation in Moldova is closer to the one in the Balkans, I think we are a little bit further in our development in terms of LGTB quality than other former soviet republics… Belarus: dictatorship, Russia: very bad, Ukraine: chaos, Azerbaijan: dictatorship, Armenia: Russia satellite, Georgia: laws are good but the situation is horrible, Kurdistan: now they’re debating the adoption of anti-propaganda laws, Russia satellite Kazakhstan: dictatorship. Transnistria is de facto a different country, the LGTB there are completely invisible, they get in groups but in very private meetings, what they mostly do is coming to Chisinau.  

Interview by Ruben Pulido and Francesco Brusa

More information:

http://www.gdm.md/http://www.gdm.md/

NEW!!

EVS Videos&Projects

* EVS Teaser Festival 2014

* I'm Maria Molina, a Spanish journalist living an amazing adventure as an European Volunteer in Chisinau (Moldova). In this short video you will see what I learned and achieved during these great months. I hope you will enjoy it!

* EVS Experience video, by Alfonso Garcia, spanish volunteer

*  Project proposal from Etienne, a Spanish volunteer. The main idea is to start trough volunteers a creative project that would unite different Moldovan (host)organisation.

Ramir Mazur

Ramin Mazur: ”A perfect photograph is an honest one”

Photojournalist Ramin Mazur was born in Transnistrian region. He graduated from the Journalism Department of the Moldova State University in Chisinau and worked with several media outlets in Moldova as a photojournalist. He got the Council of Europe Youth Media Award in 2011 and a Magnum Foundation Human Rights and Photography Fellowship in 2013. His works can be seen HERE.

Ramin, why did you decide to become a photojournalist?
I studied journalism at the State University, but I never thought of becoming a photojournalist. I had been interested in photography since my first year at the university, I was doing photography, I was interested in public places, and during my last year of study I was offered to work as a photographer for a local newspaper. Although I had no photojournalism classes at the university, I accepted to work with that newspaper. Then the newspaper closed, and I still continued doing photography: I liked catching scenes from life, including what was happening around me. Now I am working with Timpul, but as a freelancer.

How competitive and developed do you find this sector in Moldova?
There is not much photojournalism in Moldova, and there is no school of photography. There were and still are some photojournalists, but not all of them work in the country. Moldova has no serious photojournalism or culture of the image.

In your opinion, what are the biggest challenges for a photographer?
Some people ask me why I make “ugly” photos, but by doing it I am trying to show the truth, things that I observe, and it is up to us to change a situation we don’t like.
In photography, of course you need training, education, but without a consumer for your products, you won’t manage a lot. We don’t have a photo industry or photo editors in Moldova. We need a foundation, other professions in the photo industry. We need to educate people in visual perception, so as to make them able to understand how to judge an image.

According to the media monitoring report produced by the Association of Independent Press (AIP), the phenomenon of manipulation through mass media in Moldova becomes increasingly dangerous, and in the end it is the public who gets to suffer. Sometimes, manipulation through mass media takes place by selecting videos, photos and captions to them. What is your view on this?
I’m not sure it is only in Moldova. Manipulation in the media is present in all Eastern countries. We don’t produce anything outside of Chisinau – the press is really centralized. There are some newspapers, but centralization is still a problem. We have some televisions that are like phantoms of one big company. We have journalism, but as an industry and a product I don’t find it satisfactory. I can´t call myself a loyal consumer of the national journalism, and I don’t watch TV. But I do believe that if somebody opened a new and professional TV station or newspaper, the audience would move to them.

Which of your photographs made you famous?
I didn’t know I was famous… I won some contests because my works showed something significant, and I want to capture things with just one shoot. I had been a photojournalist for one year when I received the Magnum Foundation Human Rights Fellowship. In those days, I was making photos of disabled people and their activities. I started a series about the butterfly disease and decided to send the photos to the contest. That scholarship was a serious impulse in my career.

You covered the events in Ukraine as well…
Yes, I stayed there for two weeks. It was immediately after the events in Odessa. I was not making any photo reports, but walking and trying to think about that situation and what it means for Ukrainians and for me.

What events in Moldova impressed you as a photographer?
Events are not the only things that can inspire a photographer… I’m working on some reports about villages now. I am not interested in the frame, but in the moments, including the environment. I don’t like shooting news.

How important is it to have formal training in this field? Can you learn photography by practicing it?
It depends on your personality. It is not necessary to study photography; you can learn it simply by attending some workshops. But it is important to learn from masters, somebody with experience.

What is the part of your profession that you like the most?
I like to observe, and now I’m mostly an observer. I keep ideas and develop them, transforming them into concepts. I sometimes take photos of places in Chisinau, because the city is transforming. When I see something I find interesting, I go and take a photo.

What do you think would be a perfect photograph look like?
A perfect photograph is an honest one, without too much technical stuff. First of all you need to capture … the feeling.

What do you think about new technologies? Are they affecting photojournalism or reviving it?
On the one hand, they offer more possibilities, but on the other hand… New technologies are affecting the entire media world; the biggest agencies show tendencies of using non-professional photos.

When you have hundreds of pictures, what criteria are you following to choose the best?
I try to choose the most representative of the place where I have been: I do a mental map and choose the best picture.

Who inspires you?
I like the works of some photographers, but I can’t say they are inspiring me. I’m inspired by the topics that I choose, by the things I see in the street or read in newspapers.

What is your opinion about the World Press Photo contest?
They choose from the pictures that they have, from the pictures that people send to them, not from the entire world…

Can you give some advice for those who want to become photojournalists?
Keep in mind that the frame of your photo is not a physical measure; it is a perception. So it is your eye that should take photos, not your camera.

Read the New in Media-azi website HERE

Journalism Awards 2014

Every year, since 1996 the Commite to Protect Journalist (CPJ) is choosing the best journalist based in their works. CPJ promotes press freedom worldwide and defends the right of journalists to report the news without fear of reprisal. CPJ ensures the free flow of news and commentary by taking action wherever journalists are attacked, imprisoned, killed, kidnapped, threatened, censored, or harassed. All of the winners will be honored at CPJ's annual award and benefit dinner in New York City on November 25, 2014.

This year the winners of the awards are the Burmese  journalist Aung Zaw, who is considerate  by the state as “public enemy”, founder and director of The Irrawaddy, which has often been targeted for its critical reporting; Siamak Ghaderi, independent Iranian journalist who was released recently after four jail in prison,  and ex reporter of IRNA, the national news agency from Iran; Mikhail Zygar, channel director of the Russian channel Dozhd, one of the few media not controlled by the government, Zygar is fighting for press freedom in Russia; and Ferial Haffajee, who is the director of City Press in Sudafrica and is constantly suffering attacks again her and her media, Ferial is also writing in Mail&Guardian. 

Also the Congolese journalist Caddy Adzuba, who is fighting to get freedom of speech and to denounce the tortures in Congo, received the Prince of Asturias Concord Price, one the most prestigious prizes in Europe.Caddy Adzuba had survived to several attempts of murder. The ceremony took place in Oviedo on October 24. 

Source:                                                                        Picture: Caddy Adzuba, MONUSCO Photos

Committee to protect  journalists

NEW INTERVIEW!

Tatiana Fiodorova: "Art can change the society in order to make it more prepared to show that we have rights we must defend"

What was your motivation to become an artist?

I didn't want to become an artist I just followed some flows. My father was an artist too but he died very early when I was 6 years old and when I grow up I had no idea that I wanted to do that. When I finished the school I decided to become a fashion designer and started to study in Transnistria in Tiraspol College. After when I finished study I understood that my drawing skills weren't enough at all to do it. Then I decided to go to University of Chisinau and study graphic design and in the same time to continue to be the fashion designer and I have participated in several fashion festivals in  Ukraine, Russia... to show some art collections  but in the post-soviet public spaces, you need money to promote fashion. I'm tired of it because there was no money. I had all the time to spend money on sewing new collections. All collections I sewed myself with my hands. Also during my study at the university I start to be active as artist to exhibited art works in Chisinau at the gallery Brancusi. Then appeared cheap internet access and I became acquainted with contemporary art, began to work in a more conceptual way.. Now I'm pleased I found my way.When you are an artist you have a different vision and you have to express yourself. And in order to create a work you do not need a lot of money, unlike the fashion design. And I like to be an artist.

 How was your first project?

My father was an artist during the soviet ages, He was unknown artist and never exhibited somewhere.  He was also designer and photographer, and we were born the same day. He left a lot of interesting things, in addition to photographs, paintings, drawings: a homemade box of Cyrillic Russian letters, a book- a photocopy of Soviet publications on medicinal plants, stencils, sketches for the Soviet-era propaganda posters, and more. Moreover, he was an archivist and collector, gathering postcards and stamps, purely for pragmatic purposes, as he worked as a designer and decorator.

I decided to show his creativity through my memory of him and soviet time.. It was in 2004.

Two years ago in 2012 I did also a artist’s book with his painting, photos and draws. As I said he also was an amateur photographer and I remember very strongly his red darkroom bathroom where he used to process photos. It's interesting that trough my artistic life every time in different period appears the same topic but in different way.

Do you think that the figure of the artist is a sort of inheritance or an artist can learn how to be an artist?

I grew up as a normal person not as an artist at all. I discovered art just when I was at the University. I began to understand all my father's objects and activities when I studied art, until this moment this compilation was just images to me. Since then I started to contact with his creativity and I started to understand it...

What is the work that you feel most proud about?

Maybe is the book about my father’s project. For me it was important to do this in memory of him .. I tried to speak about how was in general the life of a soviet artist... he was an unknown artist and in that period was not very easy to be an artist. If you were not member of the Union of Artist, you couldn’t show your project to the public. I compared my situation thinking about what kind of freedom had my father and what freedom I have now. Now you can present almost everywhere. Therefore, the topic was: how the artist has social attitude with the state and the society, what kind of freedom he had?

Speak more about your book in details?

In soviet times everything was about propaganda, no freedom of expression at all.

 So, in this book I tried to ask “how easy was to be in the Union of artists?” “What kind of topic you must to speak about?”

I did an interview with a member of the Union of Artist, Victor Kuzmenko, who explained me a lot of interesting details about how they worked in the soviet times and how was the real situation. For me was really interesting to see the personal opinion of the artist and face it to the state rules. 

Also in the book you can see original material, artefacts of the soviet time: soviet banknote, paper of calendar. . You can see in the book how it looked public designed, and for me is amazing because not a lot of people can speak about this topic: and also some pictures taken during 70-80’s, so you can observe how the people looked during those ages. My father also used to go to the villages and selling photos, for example taking pictures of people there, different kind of people, for example you can see the collection of women with babies. The last part of the book is the personal pictures from my family’s archive: me, my sister, my mother and father. 

 You use different artistic formats such as photography, video, performance, etc. What each one of them means to you? How do you choose between them each time?

It depends on the message you want to share. You have a message and you have to choose which media is better. For example, I did my first performance in 2009, I've never done anything like this before and I guess you have to choose the best format for your message, the satisfactory one. Also, sometimes you feel that some formats are not enough for your message. For example it is happened with the book about my father... I felt that an exhibition wasn't enough to show his creativity.  The book was a format in which everything important could be contained. Very interesting experience to create book as art object by my hands.Photography as other medium I like very much because it is allows me to distance my selves from reality and be an observer.

You also focus on ordinary life and everyday objects. What do you think about the relationship between ordinary life and routine and art?

I cannot separate my life from my art. I think that my artistic feeling influences my whole life. It's not a process like this: right now I'm a normal person; now I'm an artist... there are so many intersections between the two aspects. Also when I'm having my 'normal routine' I keep on seeing interesting things in an artistic manner. 

Soviet passport project, by Tatiana Fiodorova

In your opinion, what is the political role of the art? Especially referred to nowadays Moldovan situation…

I cannot change politics’ way of acting or thinking, I don't have the possibility to speak with them but maybe I can change everyday audience attitude, because they can come to my exhibition and they can see something different. And also about the protest I report in my work, which could be a chance for changing something with art. I think that art can change something but I don't know if it's possible in our context. I think art cannot change polity, but it can change somehow the society in order to make it more prepared to show that we have rights we must defend, to show that we could have a better life.

How do you feel about art situation in Moldova? Do you think that art is a matter of education?

It's not really strong if we speak about art education and infrastructure.  We have three levels in art educational system which was shaped during soviet times; so the system is still traditional, nobody will teach you about new practice and media. Sometimes carried out workshops on various practices of contemporary art, but this is not enough to change the whole situation. General the art is still living in the past; we don’t have a lot of contemporary referents in Moldova.  As I said, contemporary art is not popular in Moldova, so the contemporary artist are not so well known . Also, many Moldovan artists immigrated to other countries. in my opinion, Moldova is almost in the same situation as the most part of the countries from the former Soviet space, not including perhaps Russia (namely in Moscow): lack of an infrastructure for contemporary art, no art galleries, museums, no quality art schooling, no institutions to educate valuable artists, curators, and critics of contemporary art. In Moldova, there is no art market and there is no demand for contemporary art. This fact can be considered as a positive feature, since it is not commercialized and art exists in its pure form. However, for Moldavian artist it is very difficult to live and create in spite of this whole system. After 20 years, the Moldovan contemporary art is still marginal, and the Moldovan society has few acquaintance of its existence. The artistes found themselves in the absence of the art scene, so they started talking about themselves in the West than at home, and also other artists moved to the West because of economic instability in the our country. Despite the fact that today the artist finds it hard to survive in such conditions, the Moldavian contemporary art exists. That I can say for sure.

Do you have some influences in your creative process?

It is really difficult to find person or artist. So many people. For example, Marina Abramovic. “I made performance the world is dirty, The artist must be dirty”. as a replica of the performance by the artist Marina Abramović , «The art is beautiful, the artist must be beautiful». The performance took place in the month of July in the gallery Karlin Studios, in Prague in 2012 . In this performance I was swimming in the dirt, rubbing myself with mud, to rethink the role of the artist in contemporary society. Today the artist does not create a high aesthetic value in terms of beauty, and the task of the artist is to be in the middle of political and social events. Thus, the artist bathing in public and political mud becomes an instrument of reproof and exposer of problems that plague society.Most of all I am biased environment in which I live, the political and social situation in the country. Pyotr Pavlensky is coming to my mind right now, because the cut off the ear yesterday to protest; I rather prefer to make performance dealing with my feelings inside. I don't like to be so provocative; otherwise it is more activism than artistic expression. But I don't think that they're two opposite terms, it's just different opinions or conceptions and different possibility of expressions for example Pussy Riots, for me a performance it's more therapeutic, in connection with my internal relationship with different topic and sometimes I don't want to show too much... it's more an internal process.

- What are your projects for the future?

I'm making a new book called Red Star; it's about a soviet factory. This is a story about my mother and soviet times... she was working in a factory during soviet times, but when the system broke down also the factory was in bankrupt and many people were thrown out. And in this factory there were more woman than men... so, the work focuses on how women manage to survive during soviet times. Before she lost her job, she bought a lot of stuff from this factory, thinking that in the future maybe it will be useful, maybe its price will increase...In that factory they produced mostly dresses and women clothes, the factory place is nowadays abandoned, so I took some pictures putting the clothes in the park, in soviet time it was called “ Lenin”. Now it is like forest with wild dogs. Now  it is dangerous to go there alone.

This project will be showed in November in one feminist project in Minsk, Belarus. It is international exhibition but more focus to the post-soviet countries. 

Red Start Project, by Tatiana Fiodorova

Do you have some advice for the future artist?

The most important is to think about yourself, who you are... to watch around you and express your feelings and thoughts. For me, a contemporary artist is primarily a person creates and forming new ideas and thoughts reworking his experience and his understanding of the world. After a deep reflex ion you can do whatever you want.

Interview by: Ruben Pulido and Francesco Brusa

MORE INFORMATION:

Archive of my works: https://fiodorovaarchive.wordpress.com/ p

Photo project: http://fiodorovaphotography.wordpress.com/
News and publications: tatianafiodorova.wordpress.com/