Chernogirls Act I: Minsk-Chernobyl

• Prize
• Photographer
  Marc Erwin Babej, United States

Chernogirls Act I: Minsk-Chernobyl portrays the uneasy coexistence between a post-Soviet generation and relics of its prehistory. Act I takes place in August 2013 around Minsk, the capital of Belarus, and in Ukraine’s Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Zone of Alienation (also known as the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone).

The Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant, and the city of Pripyat that housed its employees, were intended to symbolize the Soviet Union. In one of history’s more chilling ironies, the image-makers exceeded all expectations: The disaster itself shone an unwanted spotlight on gaping inadequacies in a notoriously secretive state. The ill-managed, torturous, aftermath mirrored the collapse of that system. Down to the present day, the Chernobyl disaster casts a long shadow – and has become a metaphor for the Soviet system.

The aptly named Zone of Alienation straddles the border of Ukraine and Belarus. The deepest physical scars of the Chernobyl disaster might be on the Ukrainian side. However, Belarus is more deeply marked by the Soviet past – operated by a regime that wallows in visual and textual language of the “good old days.” Streets in the center of Minsk are still named after Marx and Engels. Even the secret police is still called “KGB.” Homage heaped upon homage, to conjure up a past in which this impoverished present country of 9½ million was a constituent part of a superpower. But the very surfeit of nostalgia unintentionally reveals another association: that of a swansong, with all its terrifying inevitability.

From here emanate the Chernogirls: heiresses of the Soviet past but decidedly not its products. Educated, and emancipated; individualistic and disinclined to obey authority, they are framed by Soviet-era settings and conceptions, but misfits in them. Flagrantly unrepresentative of their own societies – arguably of any mainstream, they embody what lies ahead: an inevitable break with the past.

Marc Erwin Babej is a fine art and documentary photographer who works exclusively in black-and-white. Born in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1970, he received a B.A. in history from Brown University and an M.Sc. from Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. Marc’s background in social sciences, marketing strategy, media and entertainment pervades his photographic work.

Uneasy coexistences are a predominant theme: his images surface inner conflicts and, in so doing, expose seemingly contradictory beliefs. Conflict is a key means of representation – a stance that embraces the viewer with one arm, while holding him at a distance with the other.

Marc’s image-making method calls for intensive collaboration with cast members. Members of his still-image film ensemble Mercury Theatre, feature in a variety of roles across the work.

Marc’s work is published regularly – both in general media and in international art publications. He also writes a column about luminaries in art and documentary photography for Der Spiegel and American Photo.

Awards Fine Art Photographer
Columnist, Arts, Der Spiegel
Columnist, American Photo
Contributor, The Leica Camera
Galleries: AB (Zurich), Adamson (Washington, DC); Amstel (Amsterdam); Pashmin (Hamburg)
Fairs: Pulse Miami 2013; (e)merge Washington, DC 2013; Scope NY 2014

SELECTED PUBLICATION

Chernogirls

DER SPIEGEL (Germany): Post-Sowjet Ära – Chernogirls in der Sperrzone (Minsk – Chernobyl)

La Repubblica (Italy): Le “modelle di Chernobyl” traslocano a New York (NYC)

La Repubblica (Italy): ”Chernogirls”: l’Unione sovietica e le nuove generazioni (Minsk – Chernobyl)

The Leica Camera: Bringing Chernogirls to New York City (NYC)

The Leica Camera: Chernogirls (Minsk – Chernobyl)

Cheek Magazine (France): Les Chernogirls, Nouveau Visage de l’Ukraine (Minsk – Chernobyl)

Seeance Magazine (Germany): Bail Bonds (Chernogirls: NYC)

L’Oeil de la Photographie (France): Marc Erwin Babej – Chernogirls (Minsk – Chernobyl)

Divany (Hungary): Ilyen az, amikor Csernobilba viszik a modelleket (Minsk – Chernobyl)

I-Ref (Germany): Marc Erwin Babej – Chernogirls (Minsk – Chernobyl)



Mask of Perfection

PULSE Contemporary Art Fair: Mask of Perfection, via Adamson Gallery

Harper’s Bazaar (US): Bazaar Goes to Art Basel

Prix de la Photographie Paris: Second Prize, “Fine Art-Professional” category

DER SPIEGEL (Germany): Schönheitschirurg Dr. Frankenstein (Mask of Perfection)

La Repubblica (Italy): La “maschera della perfezione”: i diktat della chirurgia plastica negli scatti di Marc Erwin Babej

Die Presse (Austria): Mask of Perfection: Schönheit vom Band

(e)merge art fair, Washington, DC, 2013 Ed.

The Washington Post: Art Fair Emerges With a Long History (Mask of Perfection)

Lenswork: Mask of Perfection

doc! photo magazine: Mask of Perfection (cover)

LFI (Leica Fotografie International): Mask of Perfection



Documentary Works

Scope Basel 2013, Switzerland

Amstel Gallery, Amsterdam (Africa, Burma, Brazil)

Le Journal de la Photographie (France): Ipanema (image)

The Leica Camera: Rio De Janeiro: A City of Great Contrasts

The Leica Camera : Buddhists in Burma: Timelessness in a Time of Change

doc! photo magazine: Buddhists in Burma: Timelessness in a Time of Change (lead story, p.9)

The Leica Camera: Capturing the Soul of Burma

Lenswork: Garden of Life (Aerials from Southern Africa)

The Leica Camera: Creating Images That Engage and Expand the Viewer’s Consciousness (Africa part 2)

The Leica Camera: Pursuing Art for Art’s Sake (Africa part 1)