KUZNETSOV Lyalya

Shaking the dust of ages
Gypsies and wanderers steppes of Central Asia

Lyalya Kuznetsova was born in 1946 in Uralsk, Kazakhstan. Studied at the Kazan State Aviation Institute and worked as an engineer aircraft before it took up photography in the late 70-ies. In 1978 he worked as a photographer at the Kazan State Art Museum, and in 1979 was admitted to the Union of Lithuanian Photographers. From 1980 to 1982, Kuznetsova was a reporter for the newspaper "Evening Kazan", since - a freelance photographer.

. Her works are often exhibited in Europe and the United States, including the Corcoran Gallery in Washington.

. In 1997, Kuznetsov was awarded the prize Mother Jones Leica Medal of Excellence and the Grand Prix for a photo in Paris.

. Lyalya Kuznetsova photographing what he sees
. Like all artists, she does not see all. Her eyes - her soul Filters. And the fact that she sees them - a reality filled with poetry, freedom, pain and pride.

. Her inner landscape, well, from which emanates its vision, formed by mountains, steppes, boundless horizons and different people - the Tatars, Cossacks, Ukrainians, Russian, inhabiting her native Kazakhstan
. She was born in 1946 in the small town of Uralsk in western Kazakhstan, near the border with Russia. The daughter of a Tatar family of modest means, was brought up in the Muslim tradition, she grew to become a good housewife, faithful wife and loving mother. But the memory remained childhood memories of Gypsies in the yard of her aunt. It is with genuine curiosity, watched from the little window in the hayloft of the way coming and going, these graceful, sun-tanned people ". She looked at the lights of their camp fires at night and listened to their songs. She saw them painted carts on the road, but follow them could not, because as a walk in the gypsy camp is not allowed.

At first it seemed that her life will flow along the path, advance the drawn tradition. Lyalya graduated from the school - her only memories: how to hurry to the movies, discovered the "Nights of Cabiria, which subsequently responded as being a big influence on his vision - to continue to learn and work in the Aviation Institute. Upon graduation job as an aeronautical engineer to ensure its stable earnings. She fell in love, got married and gave birth to daughter. She continued to work, and it seems no coincidence her work had already been linked with space and air - two elements that continue to play such an important role in her photographs.

Lyalin husband died unexpectedly. She was left alone with infant daughter. What gave her the courage to follow its old dream, this time picking up the camera to her more than ever not to let? Become a photographer and try to make this for a living was awful hard. This is meant to give up a stable existence of life in wanderings and uncertainty. Should be, it was hidden inside some kind of force proceeding from the adoption of vital decisions. Soon she parted with the position of the photographer at the Kazan State Art Museum, deciding to work independently.

Fate soon confirmed the correctness of its decision: with her brother, she went to the car in the Ural steppe. They decided to turn off the main road and ran into a gypsy camp near the river. The children ran out to look at them, Lyalya and her brother followed them to the tents. They gave the children some gifts, and Lyalya began photographing women and men, sitting on the ground. Gypsies do not like being photographed, to enlist their location is not easy ... But she knew she had found what they needed: people, tronuvshih her soul. To photograph them would praise their way of life and awaken the artist within. At that she stood and continued to photograph, and Roma quietly let this young woman with the appearance, something resembling their own, in his world, which she took over the next 15 years.

. Lyalina own descriptions of such meetings for many years have the freshness of her vision and insight, her observations as a photographer
. Enthusiasm to communicate with kindred spirits in the vast horizons of the country, familiar ground and completely different way of life in her survey were intoxicating beverage. Instinct cat she had found her again and again Roma; time becomes almost invisible and pictures of their classes, . Temporary - allowed them to look directly into the camera, . so, . as they wanted: in a good mood, . playing the fool, . seriously, . even aloof.,

. Lyalina relationship with the space through which it allows its Roma move - that is what is so remarkable
. They rarely are in the center of tracks, but appear everywhere: in the corners, top, bottom, at any distance. She has them where they exist at the moment. With it, we discover them. Her touch seemed so easy that we can forget about decisiveness and firmness, even necessary in order to make such photos. Gypsy Series Lyalya Kuznetsova looks like a great novel, in which each image has its place and acquires value as the story unfolds. Dove soars into the air, the boy on his heels with open arms accompanies his eye flight - the very energy and enthusiasm. A man sitting on the ground, pressed to his chest peacock with spread feathers, demonstrates this particular property as a jewel on the background of a dilapidated fences and rickety telephone poles, leading to an unknown destination. Children are everywhere, and women always look after them. Girl in shiny dress rises above the dirt yard, two boys, lying on the ground, playing with a train in the dust. Men in this world, the owners - they sit alone or in company of each other, if the woman next to them, it obviously belongs to them.

. Over time, photographs take us from wandering gypsies living in tents in the wilderness, to the Roma settlements outside the big cities such as Odessa
. Now a house there and the feeling of an enclosed space ... This is not only the world of Gypsies. Other people appearing in the frame: Uzbeks and Tatars, actors traveling circus. They - renegades who hold - or uderzhivaemy destiny - aside from the main road, tempted by the millions to move to big cities. Lyalya also remains a favorite in the province and continues to take lives in the field, constructed by human standards.

Lyalya Kuznetsova is now known photographer. She exhibited in many places from Berlin to Arles, Paris and New York. I met her in 1989 when she worked in Moscow. She and a group of Russian photographers showed me his work. It was the beginning of glasnost, and hope to travel abroad was a shaky prospect. But the mood was festive. There were survivors delicacies and a bottle of champagne. We sat on the floor and a pair of chairs and noted our meeting, almost like Lyalina Gypsies, only the floor was covered with photographs of our. Lyalina features refined, and she moves with grace girl. Her face read vulnerability, suffering, present in her works, as well as casual smile, and sometimes a rare burst of laughter over some human weakness, of laughter, which never makes fun, but full of understanding. Her eyes are always watching. Even when she did not move, it was felt the intention. She said that she wanted to return home to his daughter and work, and a trip by train faced a long. I felt that life was still difficult to. We met several times in Moscow, spoke about his work and life and felt closeness.

Lyalya Kuznetsova reveals in his works the hidden strength of the Vulnerable people. Her characters - human beings who may be close to the heart of any, they touch us his untimely. Lyalya Kuznetsova - a poet who knows his craft and enriches our lives the gift of his works.