Any archive functions as a memory substitute and this applies to all kinds of archives – a depository of cultural-historical monuments of national significance, a police database or simply a family album. Archive making lies at the basis of every societal model, and it is performed with an aim to retain and/or create a sense of identity and belonging to a certain real or imagined values framework.
In the context of the exposition, the authors are interested in the phenomenon of a family photograph and its archetypal nature, which enhances the viewer’s feeling of belonging and establishment of an emotional link even with the unfamiliar family archive photographs that narrate a historically unknown story. The exposed works comprise the photographs discovered by the authors at deserted houses, former Soviet military bases and industrial territories. When carrying out the research and selecting the works to be used at the exposition, particular attention was paid to the photographs that are universal in their visual aesthetics and plot-wise can be included in almost any family album.
The concept of anatomy in the context of the exposed works was interpreted almost literally. Since time immemorial, anatomy was always related to studying the peculiarities of a person’s body construction. At the basis of the exposition ‘Archive Anatomy’ lies the deconstruction of family photography through the use of drawings and installations, created specifically for the purpose of the exhibition. Family photographs often acquire their value not merely by depicting particular people, but rather by using archetypal image constructions, which historically have adapted the construction characteristic for a family photograph. In this context, the exhibition can be compared to a peculiar anatomy theatre where the family photograph is being dissected to enable the viewers, and the authors themselves, discover the mechanisms of meaning construction and attribution, which are consciously or subconsciously applied when decoding the narratives and meanings carried by a family photograph.