Collective Red - part 2 1999

Arsen Savadov made this photograph, Collective Red - part 2, and the red! That red! It feels thick and dramatic. The way the figures are arranged, it feels staged, maybe like a play, or a dream? Like how the red fabric is laying over the man's body, it suggests a narrative, but not one I can quite put my finger on. It's like a painting, but the kind where you can't tell how many layers there are, or whether the artist used a brush, a rag, or their own damn hands to get the effect. It kind of reminds me of some of Jeff Wall's photographs. The image hangs there, refusing to give up its secrets, inviting endless interpretations, each as valid as the next. It’s this openness that makes the piece so compelling, this conversation that transcends time.