“Sunken Time”: Soviet Russia, XX Century, 1962-1992, In Black & White Photographs By Mikhail Dashevsky

Photos of famous Russian photographer Mikhail Dashevsky – persuasive evidence of Soviet society “era of developed socialism.” Black-and-white photos, devoid of pathos and gloss, hypnotically immerse the viewer in the recent, but forgotten time. reality (casual as we would say today) – Moscow, province, village, children, elderly – the main themes of photos in the book.

Mikhail Dashevsky was born in 1935 in Moscow. In 1953 he entered Hydrotechnical Faculty of Moscow Engineering and Construction Institute which he graduated from in 1958. He worked for a short time at Stalingrad and Bratskaya hydroelectric stations construction sites, further for forty years in Moscow at a construction research institute. Mikhail Dashevsky has a Ph.D. in Technical Sciences, he specializes in vibration protection of buildings.

Photographic biography of Mikhail Dashevsky began in Moscow photo club “Innovator”. In the 1960 -1980-ies the “Innovator” was the center where the old photoschool traditions 1920-1930-ies combined with the freedom of choice of the plot, assessment of reality. In the Brezhnevs years the publication of these photos was impossible. These photos have especially valuable now, because they are fixed trivia, details of the life that has been erased from the memory, lost clarity, overgrown with myths.

All of his works are spontaneous but not posed photos. The author is interested in psychological etudes, everyday life of the city, and ordinary people who can be met on the street. Children and elderly people are the most favorite characters of his works. Mikhail Dashevsky counts his manner of photo shooting as the documentary impressionism.

Such are my life and mindset, mixture of rebellion and technique, which is not unimportant for art photography «about people».