We had the opportunity to speak to Natalya Getman about her project, Sisters, recently on view in the 2024 edition Vision(ary): Portraits of Communities, Cultures and Environments. Presented as a part of Winchester Waterfield Summer Arts Festival, the installation featured more than 20 individual installations with distinct photographic styles. Vision(ary) is the Griffin Museum of Photography’s 5th Annual summer public art exhibition dedicated to the art of visual storytelling.
An interview with the artist follows.
Website: www.tuttagnutta.com
Instagram: @tutta_attut
Тutta Gnutta (Natalia Getman) is a photographer. Born and raised in Kimry (1979), lives and works in Odintsovo, Moscow Region. In her projects, Natalia Getman relies on the connection between man and nature, as an aspect of life that helps to find harmony and balance. She is interested in the topic of relationships between people, how strong connections between loved ones arise, how they develop and are maintained.
Where does your interest in photography come from?
In general, you could say that I took pictures all the time. I started taking pictures when I was still at school, first it was a Polaroid, a Zenith, my first SLR. For the most part it was amateur family photography. Then there was a break and for a few years I shot only on my phone. And then I decided to return to this hobby, and plunged headfirst into this huge photographic world. And I love it here.
What inspired you to create this project about the friendship between your mother and aunt?
I was in photography school. I had an assignment to photograph a loved one some, one I cared about and hadn’t photographed before. I thought it was my aunt. As I was thinking about the shoot, I suddenly realized that I should shoot the two of them. They are very close, the relationship between them is unusual. The uniqueness of their relationship I didn’t realize it right away. It was ordinary and familiar to me, such an ordinary life, that you just live and don’t notice.
What role does the village setting and their upbringing play in your portrayal of their relationship?
They grew up in the village, and they keep coming back there, it is their place of strength. And, of course, village life has had a great impact on their outlook and perception of life. Constant labor, limitations and different physical work, it determines a lot of things. I tried to shoot them in the city, but the narrative thread was already lost, and these photos were not included in the project. That’s why I do the main shooting in the countryside in the summer. When both sisters come there.
Can you tell us more about this specific image?
This is a photo from their very first shoot together 4 years ago. I took photographs, some ordinary lifestyle shots, and we were in the village with my aunt. And suddenly she says, I forgot to rinse the clothes, they both break away and go to rinse her clothes in the pond behind the house. And this is what they are all about; this characterizes them very much. If there is something to do, get up and do it together.
Are there specific moments or memories that stand out to you as particularly meaningful in their story?
The uniqueness of their relationship is still a mystery to me, they have never quarreled with each other once in their entire lives, although of course they quarrel with other people. They accept everything about each other unconditionally and with understanding, always agreeing. There is a picture in the project where they are cleaning mushrooms. They were preparing a table, knives, utensils, and this was such an interesting moment, the aunt brought a jacket to put on the bench to make it comfortable. Comfortable for both of them, and that’s just that invisible, caring for each other.
Finally, have you encountered any challenges in translating their story into art? How did you overcome them?
The difficulties were of course when I realized that I wanted to make it into a project, I needed to show this subtle interaction and friendship through photographs. It wasn’t easy, I had to look for metaphors and deeper meanings. Becoming an observer and noticing the usually unusual things that make up their relationships.
Last year on my mom’s birthday her husband died, and it was a very difficult summer for all of us. At the time, I already realized that this was a project and it had to go on. But, the mood was so sad that the filming didn’t really work out. At some point I got desperate and put the idea on hold. I went to study project photography to learn to understand how to tell a story through photography. For almost six months, I sorted through the archives and chose what could be included in this story to make it holistic, working on consistency.
