This issue of V–A–C Sreda online magazine publishes two works from the Portal of Memory series by the artist and photographer Bulat Arslanov, a member of the “Friends of ‘The Vaults’” programme.

In Portal of Memory, Arslanov turns to personal memories, the features of which are always blurred lack clarity. Numerous and barely perceptible rays of sunlight highlight individual fragments of images, while expired photographic film creates a special flickering effect.

The blurred images in the photographs create an inner movement and at the same time emphasise the elusiveness of the moment, which remains in memory only as a vague fragment of reality.

Arslanov notes that “each photograph is an independent portal” and yet lacks clear temporal boundaries. Who knows—was it really there, or is it a deceptive vision, a cunning joke of memory?