When I became a parent, I had an idea to make a photographic book for children. I started to photograph subjects and images of Russian fairy tales.

At first it was a series of purely staged photos, but then I began to notice that some of the documentary photos found fit perfectly into this fabulous series.

Started from the previous work “Index of Identity” (2012-2015) the topic of the search for national identity is revealed in the gap between documentary and fictional photographs.

The fairy tale is the most authentic source of Russian archetypes. The saying says: A fairy tale is a lie – yes there is a hint in it, a good lesson to good fellows.

The viewer follows the photographic tracks of the main hero of the fairy tale, referring to the cultural codes of the collective unconscious, guesses or recognizes the fairy-tale images or hints of them.

Go there I do not know where,
Take a picture of that I do not know what

Andrey Ivanov

Self-published
2018

96 pages
20 x 27 cm

Edition of 7