Brave
Anton Shebetko
(2021)
The work was created in 2021 during the Brave Festival in Kyiv. The festival took place on the territory of the Metrobud factory, whose primary purpose is the production of subway wagons. An improvised photo studio was set up in the middle of one of the factory's premises. I invited visitors and asked them to look into the camera for a minute. Do not dance, do not succumb to external stimuli, and try to freeze. Stop for one minute.
In total, I shot a little over 100 people in two days.
My initial idea was to study how the presence of a camera and a photographer affects behaviour and how the relationship between a model and a photographer is formed. I did not work with or edit the received materials into a separate film. In fact, the work itself was the process of its creation.
However, with the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022, these videos have gained new meaning, and I edited them into a 103-minute silent film. I have no contact with most of the people presented in the final version of the work; therefore, the viewers and I can only guess what happened to the people in those silent video portraits and whether they are safe and alive.