Svetlana Biryukova – WANDELSTERN

A mysterious narrative depicting Iran, shot on analogue with a Yashica Mat124G medium format camera.

The title of the series is Wandelstern (German) / setareye sargardan (Persian), or “Wandering Star,” an old poetic term for planet. It depicts an unknown place, mysterious, like a distant planet. It is like another world, where poetry has the utmost power.

My land
full of fossils

a fossil of freedom

a fossil of love

a fossil of elegant noble women

a fossil of disappointed national heroes

a fossil of unborn mediocre philosophers

a fossil of worthless bearded poets

My land

a natural history museum

a wandering star

between history and geography
 – Poem by Alireza Labesh
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 “This body of work illustrates my journey through an unfamiliar country and a search across landscapes for something beyond reach, beyond the surface, the mystery of the unknown, to capture the spirit and subtle moments. It is not documentation, but rather a personal, subjective, and emotional reflection on a journey.”
Set in a seemingly non-specific location, earthly details are nevertheless evident in the landscape. With minimal framing and a primarily monochrome colour palette, the focus is on the vast world of sand, stone, and rocky desert. There is no clear measure of time, it could be somewhere between the past and the present.
Together, these fragments create an open narrative frame, which allows for each viewer to make his or her own interpretation.
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See more on Biryukova's website