Raised up in a traveling addicted family Pavel began to photograph already in his youth. He traveled with his father’s old cameras and visited almost all countries of Europe as well as former Soviet republics, Israel, Jordan, North Africa, and the USA already by the age of 20. “The feeling of endless freedom during these trips was the point where my inspiration for photography began,” says the artist.
In 2010 Pavel quits his job and decides to dedicate his life to things that matter. In 2011 his photo series of naked women “White Silence” picks up public attention and gets featured all over the world. He starts working as a photographer full-time and in the following ten years develops a few other bodies of work, like “Made in China”, “American Prayer”, and the most recent one – “The Sea That Never Was”.
Pavel’s works are widely filled with ideas of loneliness, isolation, and emptiness. He tries to uncover the human being’s nature and his feelings, fears, and instincts.
The Sea That Never Was
They call it a sea. It never was one.
I began coming here in 2021, almost seventy years after a huge explosion near Minsk city, Belarus. Two trunks of dynamite started back then what was going to become the so-called Minsk Sea.
The reservoir was made to contain excess waters of the Svislach River, which flooded Minsk every year. A village of around 50 homes used to be here. The government moved everyone out. Today, the remnants of those homes are still underwater.
The place became a tourist attraction soon after the reservoir formation. A resort house was built on the shores of the Sea. A yacht club opened up. But the rest of the territory remained untouched.
I spent the whole summer talking to tourists, fishers, exploring the history of the place, and finding a fine connection between the location and those coming here. Some say that during the Cold War, the US feared that the Soviets created the reservoir to test submarines. Some believe there is still a peat factory on the floor of the Sea. Many myths surround the place.
Today, coming here feels like entering a time bubble. A bubble that is being slowly burst by outside influences like the newly opened beach with modern bars and upbeat cafés. The Sea turned to a strange mix between past, present, and future – the things sometimes unmixable.
When times meet at the Sea that never was, what you get is a weird feeling of nostalgia, sadness, and excitement about what’s coming next. A feeling that cries to be captured.
To view more of Pavel Tereshkovets’ work please visit their website.