Lucia Ganieva

Kuvady

In the summer of 2008 I took my camera and tripod and set off to photograph the landscapes of Tartary, where I spent my childhood living with my daue-ani (Tatar for ‘grandmother’). It was very hot and we drove to a village to buy water. That’s how I first got to know Kuvady.

It was a small village but very well tended, and in front of each house stood a gate, regarded here as an object of family pride. The patterns they are decorated with are typical, yet never repeated — the design is simultaneously canonical and unique. Realising this, I resolved to create a portrait series of local residents in national costume in front of their house gates. Haymaking was in full swing, one of the busiest times of the year, so there was limited time to pose for me. The older generation agreed to have their photos taken. Several of them were in a hurry and got photographed in everyday clothing. Others dashed into their homes first and donned festive white kerchiefs and brightly-coloured dresses kept for special occasions.

My grandmother once possessed a kerchief like this. She put it on when we visited her female friends to drink tea washed down with confectionery.