"Do my photographs actually record the real?... Has the proliferation of images of my homeland had any impact on my memory of both the nation and my identity as Russian? Have these photographs become more real than my real experience of Russia and my own personal history, or are my unreal constructions more faithful?" (Black, 2010)

Through Time and Space by Erin Lucuik (Mass Art Guide feature article)

Although they say a picture is worth a thousand words, a photograph can render its viewer speechless from its ability to express those things that cannot be conveyed through text alone. The work of Marina Black at once questions the accuracy of the photograph and asks the viewer to consider it as a truer depiction of the past than both text and memory.

In "The VERSTS", Black's exhibition at XEXE Gallery for the CONTACT Photography Festival, she tells of her journey that began at the age of 28 when she immigrated to Canada without speaking a word of English. Faced with her fading Russian identity and her new Canadian reality, Black became acutely aware of time and memory in relation to place. How could she reconcile a past that was slowly becoming unfamiliar with a present that was awash with her new experiences? 

The title of her exhibition refers to her attempt at reconciliation. The word “verst” is taken from an anthology of poems by the same name, written by Russian poet Marina Tsvetaeva. It translates to mean a measure of length and alludes to the distance, both tangible and intangible, that Black has traveled since immigrating.

This series reconfigures photographs of her homeland, her friends and her faily through a layering process using film, collage and blurred exposures. This process moves beyond the photograph, which typically captures one specific moment in time, and aims to create new work that represents both the past and the present.

In “3 Revolutionaries”, Black cuts and pastes film together in a way that rids the photographs of their original context. Three film exposures of the same man, photographed from different angles, are layered together to create a composition that not only refers to the selective nature of memory, but also refers to how memory can change and evolve.

Similarly, in “Saviour Reflection”, Black hints at the way memory can fade over time. The architectural structure in the photograph becomes abstracted because of the blurred film exposure. This photograph, along with others in the same series, rejects the traditional depiction of people and places in favour of an alternative that is informed by memory and a newfound personal identity.

The exhibitions included in the 2010 CONTACT Photography Festival explore the theme, pervasive influence. “The VERSTS (Версты)” emphasizes the pervasive nature of Black’s personal history and its ability to inform and transform the photographic record.