The pictures explore the themes of relationship between the people and Neva River (placed near St. Petersburg, Russia).
On the one hand the attitude of people to the Neva River with each year becomes more and more aggressive and consuming.
On the other hand there is no doubt that the people living in the Neva river valley love their river and instinctively want to see in the surrounding landscape not only natural resources for their physical existence, but also a source of aesthetic pleasure. In the past the role of rivers and canals for the city has been strongly emphasized.To Russian people somewhat instills a love of the water. During the reign of Peter the Great each house owner had to have a boat and every house next to an embankment should has a mooring. Its name Neva river received from the Finnish word ”neva” which means a swamp. Thanks to Neva river the St. Petersburg was founded. For builders of cities nature has always been a ‘clean sheet’. Its resources were used at the expense of its own gradual extermination. In the texts on the history of cities a nature usually serves as an inert background for the heroic conquest. In my project I wanted to find a balance between harmony and destruction.
About Ekaterina Vasilyeva
Ekaterina Vasilyeva is an independent photographer from St. Petersburg (Russia), working at the intersection of the genre, documentary and art photography. Ekaterina Vasilyeva in most of project explores the theme of a particular place (space, territory, it changes in the context of time and historical landmarks, environment problems, interaction with human activity, personal relationship and the myths of the place. [Official Website]
