ROSPHOTO with support from the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation presents a unique virtual exhibition

Cimmeria: Beyond the Landscape. Alik Sidorov

In his photographs, Aleksandr Ivanovich (Alik) Sidorov peers into the mysteries and creative manifestations of the nature itself, attempting to overcome the sense of nostalgia for its fading beauty and to call into being the images of landscapes that were extinguished by civilization.

Cimmeria

Alik Sidorov

1980s

Cimmeria

Alik Sidorov

1980s

Cimmeria

Alik Sidorov

1980s

Cimmeria

Alik Sidorov

1980s

Cimmeria

Alik Sidorov

1980s

Cimmeria

Alik Sidorov

1980s

Cimmeria

Alik Sidorov

1980s

Cimmeria

Alik Sidorov

1980s

Cimmeria

Alik Sidorov

1980s

Cimmeria

Alik Sidorov

1980s

The Cimmeria series creates a diverse, picturesque and deep effigy of the Crimean landscapes. A group of artists under Alik Sidorov’s supervision created it in the 1970–1980s. Landscape photography has always been one of the most challenging genres in photographic art, and few achieve outstanding results in this field. Such work demands technical proficiency, the use of unique expensive equipment, and a keen grasp of nature’s images.

According to Herodotus, the bleak land of Cimmerians, enshrouded in darkness and covered with fog, was located in the East Crimea, between the Cimmerian Bosporus and the mountains of Demerdzhi. Like any historical region, Cimmeria has geographical coordinates and outline, but it is more than just a territory or a country, it is an ethereal realm dissolved in the times that date back to the era of Homer and were preserved for the next generations in the poems of Maximilian Voloshin.

The photographer invites us to explore this realm where we can find traces of many peoples: the Greeks, Romans, Armenians, Syrians, Scythians, Sarmatians, Goths, Tatars, Turks, and many, many more; to sail along the shores, which Ulysses, worn out by battles, had reached in his spiritual search; to lie perdue behind the bush and watch the moth reaching for the sunbeam. And let us be accompanied in this journey by the most wondrous gifts of all, the one that was granted to us when we were children: the capacity for surprise and for recognizing the spirit secured within us.

‘«Cimmeria» is an artistic experiment that has become an attempt to revive the disembodied images and to retain the lost myths,’ wrote Valery Zelensky.

The exhibition Cimmeria: Beyond the Landscape. Alik Sidorov was held at the State Museum and Exhibition Centre Rosphoto in 2006. Ten years have passed, and now we are honored to present this project once again, this time on the pages of the virtual museum of Rosphoto.