Disappearing Worlds: photos at the cusp of change

In this video, WPF’s Bridget Conley speaks with Stephenie Young, curator of Disappearing Worlds: The photographs of Evgenia Arbugaeva and Natela Grigalashvili, a new photography show at Greg Cranna’s Bridge Gallery in Cambridge, MA, open from September 9 to October 14, 2023. The two photographers whose work is being shown, Evgenia Arbugaeva and Natela Grigalashvili, are from disparate post-Soviet sites, Tiksi in Siberia (Russia) and Adjara, Georgia. However, both capture ways of living that are on the cusp of disappearing. They portray fragile human worlds at the mercy of forces — changes in history, economics, politics, and climate — that are much bigger than the individual lives foregrounded in their work. You can preview two images below, with more on the Gallery website.

Dr. Stephenie Young is professor of Comparative Literature in the English Department and Senior Research Associate for the SSU Center for Holocaust and Genocide Studies.