Portfolio > Tzetzegov Erasures 2009

Also included is a series of large-scale Lambda-print photographs. These are scans of my family photographs of Tzetzegov from the 1920-30’s. I enlarged them to life size, and then followed Stalin’s law requiring that as a family member I erase his image. Instead of erasing him from the historical record however, I turn these photos to the public view, competing this history rather than erasing it.

I believe this was his passport or visa photo when leaving the Soviet Union for the U.S. He left through Shanghai, China for the west coast of the U.S. The Chinese characters at the bottom of the photograph translate as "happiness" and "treasure".