Lucia Ganieva is most successful with photographic series containing portraits of people in their environment. By means of portraits of people and their space she wants to illustrate social issues. Most of her work she makes in Russia, because of her roots and her strong connection with the Russian people and society.

HOME FOR VETERANS OF THE THEATRE

In 1895 in St.Petersburg, on the initiative of an actress named M. G. Savina a home was founded for retired stage-artists. The purpose was to make it possible for people, having dedicated their entire life to the theatre, to enjoy their old age in a pleasant environment and between others of equal spirit. The husband of Mrs. Savina contributed funds for the foundation of the home, and the emplacement and buildings were donated by tsar Alexander III.

It is beautiful place, situated on one of the islands forming St.Petersburg. In spite of being close to the centre of the city, it still is calm and nice. The home is situated in a complex of three buildings in a park of approximately 6 hectares. Especially the main building is impressive in its style and architecture, richly decorated and furnished with antiques.

The people living their all have their own room. The common areas include a theatre, a library and a restaurant. In the park, that existed already long before the foundation of the home, there are gardens, fruit trees, ponds and walking lanes. The location was and still is very popular as a background for movies and documentaries. Both inside the buildings and outside in the park camera-crews are seen frequently.

At this moment there are 87 retired inhabitants in the complex, of which the youngest is 62 years old and the oldest 99 years old. Twelve people are already over 90 years old and 23 are over 85.

The photo series made by me, Lucia Ganieva, contains 25 portraits of inhabitants of the home and also photographs taken in the interiors of the buildings and the rooms of the inhabitants and photographs from the time the inhabitants still were active in their careers.

Shumskaya Nina Alekseevna copy

Sonina V.M. copy

Stepanova Tatyana Nikolavna copy 2

Rudina Irina Pavlovna copy

Otyakovskaya Klavdia Sergeevna copy

Gavrilkin M.M. copy

Leonov Boris Nikolaevich copy

MEMORIES

DE TILTENBERG

The Tiltenberg at Vogelzang is the Great Seminary of the diocese Haarlem (Netherlands) where students are educated for priesthood. I have wondered, which youngster in this time and in this world chooses to become a priest, and for what reasons. I also wanted to find out what it means for a young seminary student to live in two such different worlds, the one of the Catholic Church and the one of modern Dutch society.

In a series of portraits of students at the Tiltenberg, completed with photographs of interiors, made in the seminary, and in their own student rooms, I have documented my vision. The portraits show where the students are standing in the process of preparation for priesthood. In combination with the portraits the photographs of interiors show the field of tension between the ecclesiastical and the civil world.

The photographs are presented in the order in which they have been printed in a book (numbered from 1 to 28). The order is: first a portrait, then a combination of photographs made in the private room of the portrayed student, and then a still from the common spaces in the seminary. Thus sequences of each time 3 photographs are combined.

The series has been made as final project for graduation at the Photography Academy Amsterdam.

Lucia Ganieva

De Tiltenberg Ignas

De Tiltenberg

De Tiltenberg Karel

De Tiltenberg 3

De Tiltenberg Teun

De Tiltenberg 2

De Tiltenberg 4