美国摄影师 杰森·埃斯肯纳兹（Jason Eskenazi） 在苏联解体前后游历了俄罗斯各地，创作了一本引人注目的摄影集，反映了黑暗童话的经典结构。

Civil Defence Drill, Magnitogorsk 1998

Medical School Cadaver, Lvov, Ukraine 2000

Dead Russian Soldiers, Chechnya, 1996

Maternity Hospital, Kuba, Azerbaijan 1999


《奇境：苏联的童话故事》（Wonderland: A Fairy Tale of the Soviet Monolith） ，开场是一个女人从一家酒店的高窗向外眺望莫斯科，她赤裸着背对着镜头。 「 她是这个故事的主角。」 在整本书中，她变成了不同的女人。她将以芭蕾舞演员、哭泣的母亲、农民的女儿的身份再次出现。仙境中的第二张照片是在一间病房里，一只鸽子坐在婴儿床的栏杆上，光线透过窗帘柔和地照射进来。 「 这只鸟预示着将要发生的事情，」 Eseknazi 说到一个悲剧的预兆。伴随着这个谜一般的开头，奇境诞生了。

Cat in Fish Tank, Moscow 1992

Medical School, Dushanbe, Tajikistan 2000

Fallen Soviet Monument, Chechnya 1996

Last Day of School, Tver 2000


1991年，苏联解体前6个月， Eseknazi 在炎热潮湿的夏天第一次抵达莫斯科。这位在皇后区长大的摄影师，通过艺术和文学以及报纸上对冷战的报道了解俄罗斯。 Eseknazi 被媒体描绘的陌生世界所吸引，开始前往这个国家。 「 莫斯科似乎是一个很自然的地方，可以亲自去看看红色帷幕的另一边是什么。」

Caspian Sea Baku, Azerbaijan, 1997

Millennium, Red Square, Moscow 2000

Farm Milkmaid, Northern Kazakhstan, 1998

Jumping Boy, Suruc, Turkey 2014


在 《奇境》 的制作过程中， Eseknazi 发现自己 「 无意识地模仿了童话的经典结构 」 ，尤其是俄罗斯童话。 「 在大多数童话故事中，父母或母亲的角色去世，孩子被留下，通过成熟自己去发现世界的危险。我以类似的方式看到了苏联的解体。」

Bus, Menage Square, Moscow 1993

Near Kirov, Russia, 2000

Funeral, Abkhazia 1993

Jewish New Year, Uman, Ukraine, 1997

Yalta, Ukraine 2001


Eseknazi 运用了这种原始的故事结构，将他的书分为三章：正题，反题，综合。第一章阐述了理想共产主义的广泛概念以及它一直是一个梦想。在这一章里，有号角、跳舞、喝酒、露宿在田野里、公园里赤膊运动的年轻人、在高山上打滚的一匹马。

Bombed-out Circus, Grozny, Chechnya 2000

Pagan Holiday, Georgia 1997

Georgia, 1997

Horse on Plateau, Dagestan 1998

Waltz Competition, Moscow, 1996


在第二章，随着 Eseknazi 揭开共产主义苏联的面纱，开始揭露另一个现实，情绪发生了变化：一个年轻的女孩站在一辆车里的牛头旁；一名身穿披头士衬衫的男子站在地上四具尸体前；外科医生手术室里的血渍床单；一教室的学生戴着防毒面具站起来参加演习。

Ballet Theatre, St. Petersburg 2000

Paratroopers Day, Gorky Park, Moscow 1998

Grape Harvest, Moldova 1999

Holiday, Shutilova, Russia 2000

Street Scene, Kabul Afghanistan 2002


第三章是最短的， Eseknazi 没有给出任何明确的综合。 「 它表明，生命是所有善与恶的积累和合成。没有答案，只有问题。」


Baku Oilfield, Azerbaijan 1997

Religious Procession, Azarmas 1991

Hill of Crosses, Lithuania 2000

Space Museum, Moscow, 1998


2008年首次出版的 《奇境》 是 Eseknazi 三部曲中的第一部，之后是《黑色花园》（Black Garden）和《候机大厅》（Departure Lounge）。第三本书以他三十年前在莫斯科酒店房间里看到的同一人物的照片作为结尾。 「 书和图像总是在某种程度上接近于意识。就像我们年轻时的自己一样，这本书中的形象和人物就像老朋友一样，」 Eseknazi 在回顾这本经典著作的再版时说。

Army Base, Karagandar, Kazakhstan 1998

Sailors, Kostroma, Russia, 2000

Harvest Ritual, Shutilova, Russia 1999

Heroin drug-addicts, Russia, 2003

Sokolniki Park Dance, Moscow 1998


现在居住在土耳其， Eseknazi 开始写作，回忆他在欧洲大陆旅行的那些年。 「 摄影一直是我进入另一个世界的一种方式。如果没有它，我就不是一个好人了。但也有一个时刻，你需要下载所有的经验，理解它，并反思。后院就适合这样。」

“Swan Lake” ballet, Moscow, 2003
Haymaking, Mari-El, Russia, 1999

JASON ESKENAZI, b. 1960

Best Photography Book POYi, 2008

Fulbright Scholarship, 2004

Guggenheim Fellowship, 1999

Dorothea Lange/Paul Taylor Prize, 1999

Alicia Patterson Foundation Grant, 1996

The fall of the Berlin Wall led me out of Queens into the larger world. After trips to Germany and Romania for their first democratic elections I traveled to Russia in 1991, just before the August coup that marked the end of the USSR, and have returned many times since culminating in a photography book project called Wonderland: A Fairytale of the Soviet Monolith, exhibited at Visa pour L'Image in Perpignan, France and at the Leica Gallery in New York and winner of Best Photography Book 2008 by Pictures of the Year International.

In 2004 I received a Fulbright Scholarship to return to Russia to make a series of large format color portraits called Title Nation with a Russian colleague.

I have received numerous awards including a Guggenheim Fellowship, 1999; The Dorothea Lange/Paul Taylor Prize, 1999, for my work in a Jewish Village in Azerbaijan; and The Alicia Patterson Foundation Grant, 1996. My work has appeared in many magazines including Time, Newsweek, The New York Times, and Soros Foundation publications.

In 2004–2005 I organized a Kids with Cameras workshop in the old city of Jerusalem, teaching photography to Arab Muslims and Jewish children, which toured many U.S. cities. It was also featured on ABC News and in National Geographic and Hadassah magazines.

For economic reasons, as well as to obtain health insurance, I took a job as a Security Guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art from March 2008–Nov 2009. I created and co-edited a new independent magazine for the guards called SW!PE which received media attention; NY Times, NPR, Reuters TV, The Leonard Lopate Show, etc.

Another result of my time at the museum was the creation of The Americans List where 270 photographers commented on the Robert Frank Looking In exhibit at the MET. This book will be self-published in May 2012.

When I quit the MET and used saved funds in order to continue photographing, I made two short trips to Turkey and Egypt. I am currently working on my next project The Black Garden, with the help of a successful Kickstarter campaign, set in the geographical locations known to the ancient Greeks. I am seeking out a sequence of visual metaphors that are once about the failure of those ideals and about a journey of lost traditions in an ever culturally ambiguous and ubiquitous world.

I am currently the International curator for the Bursa Photography Festival in Bursa, Turkey, and the co-creator of Dog Food, a newspaper based on the philosophy of the Cynics for photographers where we also give free symposiums for the local photographic community.

文章来源：去你的文艺

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