OLEG ZOTOV AND IDA RUCHINA Chukotka. Epic saga. Introduction. Online exposition with 3D / VR tour

The composition of the exhibition: 40 large-format photographs.

Curator: Alexey Loginov (professor at the Russian State University for the Humanities).

December 10, 2020 marks the 90th anniversary of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. The exhibition “Chukotka. Epic saga. Introduction". It is being held within the framework of a new project "BIG PHOTO PREMIERA", the organizers of which set themselves the tasks of developing and shaping contemporary photographic culture in Russia. The exposition is located in the West Wing of the New Tretyakov Gallery, a space where the Gallery holds large interdisciplinary exhibitions related to the search for relevant topics and meanings in contemporary art, embodied by new plastic means. Therefore, it is no coincidence that the first exhibition of a large-scale otoproject is presented here.

The "BIG PHOTO PREMIERA" project is one of the activities of the Public Production Center, whose mission is to establish and strengthen existing public institutions and initiatives that support and develop Russian visual art. The active cooperation of the center with the regions allows not only to support Russian photographers, but also to acquaint the viewer with the unique nature and culture of the country, to form an artistic photo encyclopedia reflecting the image of modern Russia.

"BIG PHOTO PREMIERA" is a new public non-profit initiative to organize museum exhibitions designed to support contemporary Russian photography. It is planned to hold exhibitions twice a year at the leading museum sites in Russia. They will help to demonstrate the high level of participants and emphasize the status of the project, and will also contribute to the promotion of new names and promising ideas in the field of photography. All expositions will be available online, and a specially created Internet portal www.bigphotopremiere.ru will allow you to learn about the professional successes of the participants of the "BIG PHOTO PREMIERA" program and follow the author’s photo stories.

The first exhibition "BIG PHOTO PREMIERS" was a joint project of Oleg Zotov and Ida Ruchina "Chukotka. Epic saga. Introduction". With the help of the pictorial language of artistic photography, the authors presented Chukotka as an incredible land where the heroic and the ordinary are intertwined, and the epic is an integral part of modern life. The first part "Entry" includes large-format photographs, presenting the viewers with the life of the indigenous peoples of the North and the nature of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug. The exhibition includes about 40 large-scale photographs, printed in a format up to 125 × 170 cm, which makes it possible to convey the unique character of the northern landscape.

“Amazing people live in this distant land. These are those whose ancestors went their way to the limit of the earth and took root in the tundra of the Far North, and those who came to explore, develop and develop this pristine territory, devoting their lives to it. In this distant land, the countdown of each new day of our country begins. And the exhibition of Oleg Zotov and Ida Ruchina “Chukotka. Epic saga. Introduction ‟fate itself is destined to begin the countdown and become the prologue of the“ BIG PHOTO PREMIERE ”. Traveling around the exhibition, the viewer may feel a deep connection with wildlife and the great power of tradition that the peoples of Chukotka cherish, "says Nikolai Kanavin, President of the Public Production Center and head of the BIG PHOTO PREMIERA project.

The creative union of two authors - the stars of modern glossy photography, a member of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, Oleg Zotov and Ida Ruchina, a member of the Creative Union of Artists of Russia, widely known for her photo projects about the peoples of the North - was formed thanks to the mutual decision of artists inspired by the beauty and pristine nature of the northern region to create photographic saga about modern Chukotka. Zotov, who has been working in the field of portrait and fashion photography for more than thirty years, has gained fame by collaborating with well-known brands such as Aeroflot, Mercedes-Benz, Nike, Honka, Valio, Fazer, Ford, and leading magazines, including Vogue Italia, MAXIM, Hello, Harper’s Bazaar, ELLE, Cosmopolitan. Oleg Zotov is the author of exhibitions in Russia and Europe.His photographs are distinguished by their accuracy and special artistic solution in conveying the moment and energy of the image.

In the center of creativity of photographer Ida Ruchina, a volunteer of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug Branch of the Russian Red Cross, lives of people in their native land. Her exhibitions "Secrets of Chukotka", "Place of Power", "Chukotka - the land of ancestors, where a new day is born" and many others were successfully shown not only in the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug and in Moscow, but also in Europe. “It was Chukotka, with its extreme natural conditions, and only at first glance with the naive beauty of nature and man, that revealed such unexplored depths that I involuntarily wanted to capture it. And the camera only recorded the happy moments of communication with unique people, because in every portrait there is a whole life, ”admits the artist, for whom Chukotka is more than a geographical place on the map, this is a concept associated with deeply personal experiences.Chukotka changes the perspective of perception of its own history, of its place in the world for everyone who has ever been there.

Co-organizers and partners of the project: Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, the Foundation for Tourism Development, International and Interregional Projects of the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug, the International Public Foundation "Russian Peace Foundation", the Department of Mass Media and Advertising of the city of Moscow, Public Production Center, center development of domestic photography "ProLab".