Hometown | Pavel Otdelnov — Paintings and Research on Dzerzhinsk’s Industrial Past

Hometown

In Hometown I interrogate the Soviet and post-Soviet past and consider how it has bent and shaped contemporary Russian reality. I look back to the history of my hometown to discover the origins of the catastrophe unfolding before our eyes today. At the same time, moving through its dramatic history and facing down its ghosts, I try to find out why it continues to be so dear to me.

To some extent, this project continues from previous preoccupations in my work now, however, I study these spaces and stories from a new perspective, knowing where the paradoxes of the past can lead.

I focus on the city of Dzerzhinsk, whose fate is emblematic of many post-Soviet industrial centres. Named after Felix Dzerzhinsky, founder of the Soviet Secret Police (NKVD), it is a city of workers and chemical factories built during the First and Second World Wars to produce weapons. In the second half of the twentieth century, these factories underwent constant repurposing; some collapsed with the Soviet Union, while others survived and are now being renovated or reused. Dzerzhinsk was severely affected by the economic crises of the 1990s and 2000s. Today it faces a grave ecological situation, high levels of crime, and continuing depopulation. For me, Dzerzhinsk represents the real Russia.