HOME AND PEACE – EMMANUEL TUSSORE, ANTON IVANOV, ALEXANDER VASILYEV

Home and Peace is a joint exhibition curated by Kristel Laur and Toomas Järvet, which tells a controversial and complex story in a language that is documentary but also poetic, chimerical, but very physical.

The works by three artists present the theme of war and peace in the most diverse ways. Emmanuel Tussore is an artist, a cameraman and a photographer. In recent years, he has explored the issue of war and destruction through the lens of civilization and humanistic thought. The artist has chosen an extraordinary medium for his artistic expression: the Aleppo soap. Out of Aleppo soap, Tussore is carving the ruins of buildings and whole neighbourhoods razed by bombings. One can see here an apparent reference to the situation in Syria and the reflections of more universal concerns. Through this natural and realistic expression, we find ourselves unexpectedly in the middle of homes in ruins and war trauma: soap, as a symbol of a civilized man, acquires an aura of raw destructive power instead.

The sculptural ruins made of soap by Tussore enter into dialogue with shattered cityscapes on the images of St. Petersburg photographers Anton Ivanov and Alexander Vasilyev’s project. Black-and-white manually developed and magnified analogue photographs bring us the war-torn life in Syria and the people there. The images focus on ordinary people’s daily lives as they try to carry on despite war and danger. As many Syrians have been forced to leave their homes to find refuge and a new home elsewhere, this nation today is associated primarily with refugees and related issues. Thanks to the photo stories by Ivanov and Vasilyev, we have the opportunity to meet those who have decided to stay put and to carry on with their lives in the country of immensely rich historical and architectural heritage, now in ruins.