Saturday 27 February 2010

Parajanovian London: Yuri Mechitov photo exhibit at the National Theatre (+ Mat Collishaw at BFI)

Highly recommend this exhibit at the National Theatre in London of rare or unseen photos by Yuri Mechitov, who was a close friend of Parajanov. Photos were taken by Mechitov during their 11-year friendship.

When I entered the foyer where the exhibit was located, this intimate photo of Mechitov and Parajanov (1st photo, below) grabbed my attention, and I started taking pictures. Then someone from behind said: "Why not taking pictures with the photographer himself?" I turned around and saw Yuri Mechitov. It was such a pleasant surprise and was great meeting him in person, so I took his photo (as per below). He was holding his recently published book: "Sergey Parajanov. Chronicle of the Dialogue."

*Parajanov with Yuri Mgoyan


*Parajanov with Tarkovsky


***


Also worth checking an installation (multimedia) by contemporary British artist Mat Collishaw, inspired by Parajanov, at the British Film Institute (BFI), which is literally next door to the National Theatre on the South Bank.


3 comments:

armen said...

wow, that's very cool. his photos are amazing.

Style pimp said...

Mika I am glad you met Yura. I know him for a long time. We used his photograph for our magazine article on Parajanov. He gave us right to use it free of charge. He is a cool guy

artmika said...

Yes, the photos are amazing, and Yura is a cool guy. I will definitely re-visit the exhibit.

Paco, that's great re his help for Me magazine. I remember that issue with Parajanov.