Angels 2000

This photograph ‘Angels’ was made by Arsen Savadov. It's a staged photograph of two male figures with angelic wings and red underwear, on a beach, with a dead seal in the foreground. It’s so striking, so full of contradictions: beauty and decay, innocence and something much darker. I'm wondering about the narrative Savadov’s trying to construct, and what these angels are doing on this beach. This photo reminds me of classic allegorical paintings, where every figure and object carries symbolic weight. The wings against the mundane, almost banal beach setting, create this strange tension, a kind of dissonance. It is like a conversation happening between different parts of art history, or a mash-up of references. I can see Savadov thinking, “How can I use this medium to express not just what I see, but what I feel, what I question?” And that’s what makes it a powerful piece, I think – the way it invites us to bring our own questions and anxieties to the surface. That’s where the real dialogue begins.