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As part of the XIII International Month of Photography, selected works by Igor Mukhin (b. ) were presented in an exhibition called Our 1990's: Time of Changes, Photo Biennale 2020, held by the Moscow Multi-media Art
Museum (MAMM). (Additional images: mamm-mdf.ru).
The photos took us back to the times of a big social change in Russia: we experienced the catastrophic crush of social structures in the 1990's that resulted in chaos, destruction, and loss, along with resistance to the fall of a well-known order; at the same time, space was opened for new hopes and expectations that allowed expression of our willingness for independence, autonomy and freedom from ideological pressure. These vicissitudes emphasized the contradictory tendencies in our society and catalyzed the social split, with the collapse of the stable but rotten Soviet way of life. The rapid changes in external reality brought great uncertainty and challenged our system of values; suddenly, we were thrown into oscillation from one pole to the opposite, leading to states of disorientation that demanded a great deal of creativity from each individual to deal with this trial. What was considered socially as ‘good’ became ‘bad’ in one day and vice versa: for example, the hidden became over-exposed; the old and young turned their backs on each other.
During the 1990's, Mukhin was using an artistic ‘lens’ positioned as an observing ‘third’ to witness social processes and to capture powerful emotional and personal moments. The artist was acting as a chronicler of city lif