Emil Gataullin – From Selected Colour 2013-2022

From first looking at the photograph, the question came to mind why?  Why was the photograph taken?  Why are the people there?  Why are they waiting?  Are they waiting for that boat?  If they are, why aren’t they looking at it?  Why are they all ignoring each other?  Consequently, this photograph, for me, contains elements of mystery, a sense of there being hidden narratives that are played out in their own private worlds.    A level of intrigue that gives rise to more questions than answers.

Compositionally, the photograph works exceptionally well.  The red coat contrasting with the blue bench is an exquisite splash of colour in what is drab surroundings that exemplify a purely functional nature.  The placement of the boat is just right, near enough to be defined but distant enough to keep a level of mystery as to it’s true function (is it a car ferry or a passenger ferry, or maybe even both.) And then there is the use of the golden ratio, with the man in the raincoat, the woman in black and the boat all at the intersections. 

But it is the three people that dominate the scene.  All of them seem to be waiting for something to happen, something that is not imminent but is due soon.  I am reminded of Edward Hopper’s masterpiece Nighthawks with the use of expressing quiet contemplation but is missing the human connection between the people.  They all seem to be guarding their own individual space, keeping a respectful distance and avoiding eye contact, without being close enough to even have a sense of comfort from the presence of another human being.  They are utter strangers to each other, utterly separate apart from them being in the same photograph. 

Is there a sense of loneliness within the scene?  A sense that at least one of the people are uncomfortable with being isolated from other people?  No, they all seem to be content to be waiting for something, something that I presume is due to arrive from the right-hand side as they appear to be gazing that way.  But it is that sense of waiting that permeates the image, the stillness before the event, before the explosion of energy and action of doing something.  All of them, waiting, just waiting.

But what are they contemplating whilst they are waiting?   Could it be they are thinking about their journey?  Are they imagining the events that will happen when they reach their destination?  Are they thinking what they are leaving behind?  Or could it be that they are waiting for someone to arrive?  Could it be a clandestine lover or a business partner or a work colleague?  Are they here to collect something?  A briefcase with secret documents being sold to a foreign power? 

Maybe my imagination is running away with me.  It could be that they are just waiting.  Waiting for an event that happens every day that contains no excitement or intrigue, but instead of the ordinary and mundane, an unexciting event in another routine day.

Though my last comment will be this.  They are waiting without using their mobile phones…