Oleksandra Osadcha (Landis&Gyr Artistic Fellowship Oct – Feb ‘25) will present her research on:

Modernist? Non-Conformist? Anachronist? The Role of Fotografika Darkroom Practices in the Late Soviet Photography

06 February 2025 (Thursday), at 16:30

Moderated by Edward Waysband.

Abstract: The seminar will give some insights into the problems of researching the late Soviet amateur photography on the material of the phenomenon of fotografika. Emerging within the amateur camera club movement of the 1960s–1980s, fotografika encompassed various darkroom techniques—such as solarization, posterization, and bas relief—that transformed photographs into graphic-like images. Despite its frequent presence in official Soviet periodicals, fotografika occupied an ambiguous space between state-approved aesthetics and experimental artistic practice, raising questions about the autonomy of the photographic medium under socialism.

This seminar will examine the role of fotografika, considering its reception in Soviet critical discourse and its relationship to broader international trends, including the legacy of interwar avant-garde photography and the revival of modernist aesthetics. It’s suggested that reconsider amateur photography not merely as a reflection of social and technological trends, but as an artistic practice that engaged with and reshaped ideas of modernism. By placing fotografika within a history of photography, this seminar invites a reassessment of amateur photographers as active participants in the artistic discourse rather than peripheral figures in visual culture.