Visualizza Gallery
14 Immagini
Diana Markosian: Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara is the debut monograph by Diana Markosian, a talented artist who works at the intersection of photography and film. The series recreates the story of Markosian’s family’s journey from post-Soviet Russia to the U.S. in the 1990s.
The first pages of Diana Markosian’s debut monograph Santa Barbara, which will be released by Aperture in November, look like a movie script. Well, actually they doesn’t “look like”. They are. Markosian gets it all out on the table without hesitation, introducing the story with a list of the locations where the scenes are shot, the crew—made of 19 people, including two producers, two directors of photography, and two script writers—and the cast. She immediately reveals the artificiality of the images we are about to see, giving us the tools to read the story in the right way. “This is my project, this is what I am”, she seems to say boldly.
The project, a reconstruction of Markosians’ family’s journey from post-Soviet Russia to the U.S. in the 1990s, pulls together staged scenes, film stills, and family pictures, stretching the boundaries of documentary storytelling.
The main character is Svetlana, “a young, disillusioned mother who finds herself in unexpected poverty after the collapse of the Soviet Union, and subsequent collapse of her marriage", as we read in the list of characters. Seeking for a better life for herself and her two children, Svetlana came to America after choosing her future husband because he lived in Santa Barbara, a city made famous in Russia when the 1980s soap opera of that name became the first American television show broadcast there. This is the starting point of the hyper-realistic fairy-tale unfolding in the following pages; weaving together reenactments by actors, archival images, stills from the original Santa Barbara TV show, Markosian creates a unique way of storytelling. It all seems so real, then you find out it’s made up (even archive photos are staged, with actors wearing clothes that belonged to Diana's parents) and then, again, it’s all true. Yes, because during the year-long filming, the actors didn’t just play their role, they experienced the memories of Diana’s childhood. And you can feel that, looking at the images created blending real and fictional elements.
It’s clear that Santa Barbara is first of all a personal reflection and a journey into memory, but Diana’s family history is similar to the one of many others who immigrated to America in the 1990s in search of a better future, and this is what makes this project so powerful and authentic.
The script, written by Markosian in collaboration with one of the original Santa Barbara writers, Lynda Myles, is the basis for a new short film directed by the artist; no longer just a photographer, Markosian is now also a director. Diana works at the intersection of photography and film giving birth to excellent outcomes: Santa Barbara is definitely the most ambitious so far, comprising a book designed by Ramon Pez—Diana defines their collaboration “a family affair”—, a film and two exhibitions. In fact, the project will be exhibited at San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in February 2021 and then at the International Center of Photography in New York.
We talked with Diana to learn more about the project.
Can you tell me how the project was born?
When I was 27 my mom and I had a conversation about how we arrived to America, and that conversation slowly started leading to what became the truth of our family story. Growing up, I didn’t know that she was corresponding with a man in America, and that we had come to Santa Barbara, California because of him. I started to piece together the story, and understood both the sacrifice she made as a woman, marrying someone she hardly knew, and also the loss that came with the decision to abandon our life in Russia. There was so much anger in me towards her initially that I didn't understand how to process it. Photography helped me.
The project is very ambitious and complex—it comprises a short film, a book and two exhibitions. Looking at documentary photography, it is a rather unusual approach, which encapsulate different styles and storytelling techniques.
There are elements of documentary photography in this project, given it is the foundation of my storytelling, but I was really trying to re-define what photography meant for me. I had a chance to direct an experience, which is unlike how you work as a documentary photographer. I guess so much of my practice is about listening and allowing a story to unfold in front of me. After a certain point, you find there’s a limitation to it, you ask yourself “Is this way of storytelling doing justice to the story that I’m trying to create?” I guess for this project, I needed to approach it differently.
How did you work on the story? Did you stage the scenes?
Santa Barbara was a build up of my previous work. In School No.1 and 1915, both projects were an experience, where I had the subjects become participants of the art I was making. I viewed Santa Barbara in the same way, but felt even more free to play. I had the chance to process the story and interpret it in the way that I wanted to. The ideas and the scenes were storyboarded, but I wasn’t married to them. We had a script that eventually didn’t even follow. I wanted to trust the actors enough to create this story organically. That was intentional as the casting process was the most important part of this project. We audition more than 60 men to play Eli, and 300 women to play Svetlana. Once we found the actors, we could start building the story. They spent a year and a half in the roles of Svetlana, Eli, David and Diana and in many ways understood the characters even more than me.
What have you learned about your family after this project?
This project helped me understand just how much my mother sacrificed for my brother and I. Of course I witnessed her courage as a child, but there’s a deeper appreciation for everything she’s done for me, now that I am older. The process of accepting her and our story hasn’t been easy. I recognize that this isn’t just my story. My family has been a part of this journey since the first day. We’ve had so many conversations, arguments, discussions about the truth of the story, and couldn’t really agree on it. This project was an exploration of it. I think if my family was to sit down together, we would all have a different version of what happened. It would become the Rashomon of my family story.
Did you learn something new about photography as well?
I think that with each project you develop a new language, and find a new way of expressing yourself. Once that growth happens, it's very hard to go back, Perhaps that’s my feeling with documentary photography. There’s a real beauty to it, but also a restriction. You’re observing, recording, but also there’s a feeling of being passive, and I recognize that I am not interested in that as much anymore.
And about you?
I am fascinated by memory. It’s a wonderful thing until you start confronting it, then it becomes complicated and uncomfortable. And probably that's what this project has been for me: a journey through that pain, a way to deal with it. I don't think I really ever processed my childhood, and 20 years later, I had a chance to re-enact it not only as a daughter but also as a woman and as a filmmaker. Those three versions of me are all feeling something very different: the daughter in me is in pain, the woman in me is empathetic, and the artist in me is fascinated. All three of those versions exist and present themselves differently. That level empathy was only deepened with Santa Barbara. And that’s what I hope to take to my next project.