Admission to ROSPHOTO exhibitions is free for all participants of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

The State Museum and Exhibition Center ROSPHOTO and the law firm DEFENCE, with the support of the Roscongress Foundation and the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates, present the exhibition project Imaginary Journeys, consisting of two parts: “The Road to Arabia” and “In a Word”, within the framework of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

Due to the unique nature of photographic imagery, it is evident that photography is the medium most capable of convincingly connecting the present with the past in the eyes of the viewer, creating a sense of presence — those very “imaginary journeys.”

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Елена Подобреевская
«Бригантина»
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Елена Подобреевская
Из серии «Вода и небо»

The exhibition “The Road to Arabia” is dedicated to the photographic representation of the historical development of the East, as well as to the imagined parallels between the past and present of the United Arab Emirates, a country that has become a symbol of rapid economic growth.

Today, the United Arab Emirates has achieved remarkable success in a wide range of fields — economics, science, culture, sports, and more. It has become a popular destination for tourists from all over the world and an important player in the global economy.

At ROSPHOTO, visitors will see images that reveal the road to Arabia through the language of photography. Many of these works were created by professional photographers such as the Zangaki Brothers, the Gülmez Brothers, Félix Bonfils, Pascal Sebah, Dmitri Ermakov, Anton Sevryugin, and others. Amateur photographers contributed their own perspective on the East, thanks to the emergence of portable cameras like the Kodak, which made travel photography possible, whether during N. Dormidontov’s journey to Egypt in 1914 or the voyage of the cruiser Berlin in the 1920s.

As part of the cultural program of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, visitors to ROSPHOTO will have the opportunity to see the exhibition “In a Word” by Elena Podobreevskaya — a visual diary of impressions by a contemporary photographic artist, a story about life’s fleeting moments and their elusive beauty.

This journey into the delicate world of details and imagery reveals the beauty of life in all its forms — even in the most ordinary. It uncovers unexpected meanings in the surrounding space, evokes emotions preserved within the palette of each frame, and invites reflection upon the subtle question: what defines a person’s identity, and how do experiences and impressions form one’s soul?

The exhibition offers a glimpse into the artist’s inner world, revealing the graceful interplay of color and form in contemporary photography — an attempt to express in a single word and shot what might otherwise require a thousand lines.