Russian History Presented in Photos by Nikolskaya Xenia

By: Maydaa Abo El-Nadar

CAIRO, Nov. 28 (SEE) - Dedicated to everyone interested in the Russian history, Russian photographer Xenia Nikolskaya gave a presentation titled "Visual History of the Soviet Union".

The event presented Russia's history through the work of some Russian photographers. It took place at the Startup Haus Cairo on 21 November. "I was happy, at the same time surprised, many people came. I did not expect it," expressed Nikolskaya.

[caption id="attachment_24990" align="aligncenter" width="333"] Nikolskaya's grandmother Gracheva Olga[/caption]

Nikolskaya worked three years in Moscow with the archive of the news agency called Ria Novosti. During her work there, she collected so much interesting material. As few people know about it, she decided to share it.

"Thanks to the efforts of photographers, who worked at Ria Novosti, an archive was formed. Although this archive is a fantastic material, not many exhibitions have been done in this regard. As I appreciate their efforts, I decided to give them a vivid voice. I think it is cool to know more about them," explained Nikolskaya.

She added "Of course Russia has millions of photographers but we cannot target everything in one hour. So at the event I spoke about some of them and a little part of the Russian history. As I currently live in Cairo, I wanted people here to know more about Russian history.”

[caption id="attachment_24991" align="aligncenter" width="373"] Photo credit: Valeriy Shustov[/caption]

During the event, Nikolskaya showed some of her father's, Vladimir Nikitin, work. "I appreciate his work and he appreciates mine," mentioned Nikolskaya in this regard.

A collection of photos titled "The Black Days of Ukraine" shot by Valery Melnikov was shown. Its theme was about the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine The collection is a very recent work of Melinkov who spent long time in Ukraine at the Eastern side, the pro-Russian side.

"Excluding political conflicts, I wanted to show the human side of history through art. The struggle between both countries is taking place on the political side. Political struggles are everywhere, but at the end of the day, we are all humans and we are all equal," she commented about The Black Days of Ukraine.

In addition to the information given about Russia's history, the photos exhibited at the presentation showed details about Russia's daily and social life.

Last year, for the first time, she did a similar presentation in Helsinki, Finland, at the Photography Museum.

Currently Nikolskaya is working on a book that will include pictures of her family, her own photos, and some documents.