Traces
(2019)
My interest in fortune telling was started from thoughts about predestination of the life. I admitted it and was afraid of it at the same time. It seemed that a person has a choice. I decided to find out my fate through palmistry to overcome this fear. Having learned my past, present and possible future, I continued to believe in the influence of a person on his life, in the ability to choose.
I looked at the frozen lines on my hands. Lines — the time stopped at the moment of our birth. I wanted to talk to someone about this, and I began a dialogue with people who can no longer change their lives.
I put archival prints of famous people of XIX–XX centuries together, made
by palmists M. Raschig, L. Hamon and N. Meier. I began to ask myself: musicians, physicists, artists, actors,
politicians — each took a decisive step in their path, but what if it were
different?
Aldous Huxley — Annie Besant
Aldous Huxley was an English writer. The
author of nearly fifty books, he wrote novels, such as Brave New World,
set in a dystopian future; nonfiction works and wide-ranging essays. Also he
was interested in parapsychology, philosophy, meditation, psychedelic drugs and mystical experiences. Later he published a book «The
Doors of Perception».
Annie Besant was a British theosophist. In the end of 19 century after reading a book «The Secret Doctrine», she clairvoyantly investigated the universe, matter, thought-forms, and the history of mankind, and was a co-author of a book called Occult Chemistry. Also she was interested in women's rights activism and supported of both Irish and Indian self-rule. She became involved in politics in India, and took over as president of the Indian National Congress in 1917.
Sarah Bernhardt — Louise
Brooks
Sarah Bernhardt was a French stage
actress. She was the illegitimate daughter of Judith Bernard, a Dutch Jewish courtesan,
a prostitute with a wealthy clientele. Sarah didn’t want to be a
courtesan, like her mother, and became a stage actress who made several
theatrical tours around the world, and was one of the first prominent actresses
to make sound recordings and to act in motion pictures.
Louise Brooks was an American film actress and dancer. Brooks declared bankruptcy in 1932. After an unsuccessful attempt at operating a dance studio, brief stints as a radio actor, a gossip columnist and working as a salesgirl, she lived as a courtesan with a few select wealthy men as clients.
Rene Clair — William Stead
Rene
Clair was a French filmmaker. In the 1930s he was widely seen as one of
France's greatest directors. Clair began his career
as a journalist at the left-wing newspaper
L'Intransigeant. Thanks to his journalistic acquaintances, he met with famous
film figures and started his film career.
William Stead was an English
newspaper editor and a pioneer of investigative journalism. He was well known
for his reportage on child welfare, social legislation and reformation of
England's criminal codes. 10 years before his death Stead became interested in spiritualism and claimed to be in receipt of messages from the spirit
world. He established Julia's Bureau, where inquirers could obtain
information about the spirit world from a group of resident mediums.
Max Planck — Arthur Sullivan
Max Planck was a German theoretical
physicist whose discovery of energy quanta won him the Nobel Prize in Physics. In his childhood, Planck was gifted when it came to music. He took
singing lessons and played piano, organ and cello, and composed songs and
operas. However, instead of music he chose to study physics.
Arthur Sullivan was an
English composer. While recognizing the boy's obvious talent, his father knew
the insecurity of a musical career and discouraged him from pursuing it. His
father was a military bandmaster, clarinettist and music teacher. Still, Arthur
became a musician, but just like his father, he was also attracted to
orchestral music and hymns.
Albert Einstein — Louis Armstrong
Albert Einstein was a German-born
theoretical physicist, who developed the theory of relativity. From an early age Einstein developed an
appreciation for music, and later wrote: «If I were not a physicist, I would
probably be a musician. I often think in music». He often performed violin
chamber music for private audiences and friends during all his life.
Louis Armstrong was an American trumpeter, composer, vocalist who was one of the most influential figures in jazz. Despite successful career, he spent his youth in poverty in a rough neighborhood known as The Battlefield. In his early life he did odd jobs, sold coal and newspapers.
Marlene Dietrich — Leni Riefenstahl
Marlene Dietrich was a German actress and
singer. Before becoming an actress, Dietrich danced tap dance, cancan and tango
at a night cafe in Germany. Before the Nazi dictatorship, she left her country,
having signed a contract with a Hollywood company.
Leni Riefenstahl fell in love with the arts in her childhood. Her mother gave her full support, unlike her father. Her father instead wanted to provide his daughter with an education that could lead to a more dignified occupation. She took up dancing, in the 20s she had an acting time, after which, as a director, she worked in Germany during the period of Nazi Party.
Alban Berg — Thomas Mann
Alban Berg was an Austrian composer of the Second Viennese School. His
compositional style combined Romantic lyricism with twelve-tone technique. Berg
was more interested in literature than music as a child and did not begin to
compose until he was fifteen, when he started to teach himself music.
Thomas Mann was a
German novelist, and the Nobel Prize in Literature
laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novellas are noted for
their insight into the psychology of the artist and the intellectual. He first
studied science at a Lübeck gymnasium, then attended the Technical University
of Munich, where, in preparation for a journalism career, he studied history,
economics, art history and literature.
William Gladstone — Swami Vivekananda
William Gladstone served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. In his childhood he was
educated at a preparatory school at the vicarage of St. Thomas' Church at
Seaforth. He hoped he would make the church his profession, but his father
resisted. However, he continued to reflect on the philosophy of religion and
write etudes on theology.
Swami Vivekananda was an Indian Hindu monk, a chief disciple of the 19th-century Indian mystic Ramakrishna. He was a key figure in the introduction of the Indian philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga to the Western world. In his early life he was trained in Indian classical music, and regularly participated in physical exercise, sports and organised activities, he passed the Fine Arts examination, and completed a Bachelor of Arts degree.
Mark Twain — Amelia Earhart
Mark Twain was an
American writer. Among his
novels are The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and its sequel, the Adventures
of Huckleberry Finn, the latter often called «The Great American
Novel». He always wanted to be a traveler. By his own admission, he would
have worked as a pilot on a steamer all his life, if civil war had not put an
end to private shipping in 1861.
Amelia Earhart was an American aviation pioneer and author. During World War I, Amelia worked in a hospital. After the war, she was preparing to devote her life to medicine, but instead became a traveler and the first woman pilot to fly over the Alttic Ocean.