The current exhibition in the Boyden gallery, Made History: Soviet WWII Photographs, is a chilling collection of photographs featuring disturbing but also the eerie tranquil moments of war. One of the descriptions hanging in the gallery highlights an important fact many viewers often overlook: the power of the black and white photo. In a summary of what the description said, black and white images are more believable than colors ones since it is what we are used to the most. Even if there was a color picture, it doesn’t seem real to the viewer because of what they are used to seeing. Not only that, but I believe black and white photograph have the ability to filters out the unnecessary, and bring out the sharp contrast that makes the picture powerful. They were four pictures that I believed stood out from the others. The first two have an aura of fantasy, the second is full action and the last one is disturbing and frightening.
The first photo I encountered, Yuri Levitanski, was paired with a poem called a “Dream about a piano.” In the picture are a small number of soldiers in a house that has taken severe damage. The walls are crumbling and the roof is exposed. There is debri everywhere but somehow, the piano, the chairs around it, and the vase sitting on the piano are intact. One of the soldiers is playing the piano while the other soldiers sit around or stand beside him. It must have been a peaceful moment when this picture was taken. Still, the witness can see the destruction behind them. I don’t know if this will be the last time this man will play the piano, or if the person who lives in the house will ever come back. Time is frozen and viewers only know what they see: a peaceful moment. But for how long?
Tank Battle at Night is the second photo I would like to discuss. It is beautiful and sad. The fires from the tanks are like shooting stars and the picture is almost cut diagonally by the row of tanks. This picture has a bigger contrast than most of the pictures in the gallery. The way the light moves almost seems as if it has a life to it. For a second, the viewer almost forgets how dangerous it could be because of the lights beauty.
In Attack, there are different types of motions felt than the former. There is urgency, panic, and speed. The soldiers are caught in their fierce attack for battle. They are going so fas,t part of the picture has blur lines. Seeing this picture made my heart beat fast. I felt like I was immersed in the action. The widescreen structure of the picture also reminded me that the shot could have been a scene in a movie.
The final picture is haunting, disturbing and one of the more emotional pictures in the exhibition. Called Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya, it features a boy with a baby face in a ditch. At the angle the picture is taken, he appears to be floating. Out of context, the picture seems almost peaceful until the viewers eyes trace to his neck which seems to be bent to an awkward, disturbing angle. It is then you realize then that child is dead and how despairing the picture is.
I believe this collection features all the emotions people who somehow come in contact with war feel: hate, urgency, courage, sadness and pain. However, there is also jubilation. This is the case in one of the pictures when the civilians welcome home the soldiers. No matter who is fighting whom, or who the enemy is, there will always be these feelings associated to war.
