Igor Vereshchagin. Given & Stolen = Подаренное и украденное (книга на русском и английском языках). Верещагин И., куратор проекта Сергей Смолин

Given. There is a special magic in the moment when a photographer is making a deal with his vis-a-vis, thus defining the miracle we call photography. In this case the frame is an immersion, a joined effort, a dialogue. Somebody is giving his or her image to a person with a camera, trusting that person and taking part in the creative initiative. But is there an accurate word that defines something which originally belonged to the other and was taken from him or her without permission? Stolen. I am talking about a photograph taken without a permission. Digitalized sneak shot of a fleeting moment in someone else’s life with no beginning and no end. It could become an eternity, but we just can not stop and really believe it. Nevertheless, it becomes eternal because there is nothing more endless and immediate than a silence of a moment, even the shortest one. Strange or familiar people in the focus of a camera lens. Camera hidden in the folds of a coat. Click of a shutter shooting from the hip on a subway escalator, on a street, in a cafe or… in an operating room of a field hospital. Which is more sincere? The given or the stolen? The vision! The vision of a photographer who documents reality in its most expected and unexpected manifestations. That is why today I combine both of these principles and turn them into allies and partners in that very magical instant which I devoted my whole life to — my photography. Welcome