Silentium — silence (Latin)
2026, Kodak Gold
As an exclamation, Silentium acquires the meaning of the command: «Silence!» In Tyutchev’s work, silence protects the inner world from external interference and the loss of experiential fullness. In this project, it becomes an image of internal spring—a personal feeling of life’s completeness. The brief bloom of cherry blossoms symbolizes this state, and photography, in Roland Barthes’ understanding, preserves the testimony of a past moment. Thus, silence and photography appear as two ways to hold onto inner experience and extend it beyond the time of flowering.
The 60×40 cm format was chosen to maintain a balance between the intimacy of the photographic image and its physical presence in space. This moderate scale preserves the image’s intimacy, resonating with the idea of silentium—an inner space protected by silence.
The final project focuses on creating handicraft workshops for teens. The motif of blooming relates to the period of youth, while analog photography harkens back to pre-digital methods of capturing reality.
