Incident with photoshop: Who forged a feminist photo in the Kremlin
"200 years old man in power. Down!" - this poster was posted by Russian feminists from the walls of the Kremlin on March 8, recalling with their share that International Women's Day is first and foremost a celebration of equality. However, immediately after the publication of the final photos, a scandal broke out: one of the photographs turned out to be fake. And although the performance has video confirmation, the discussion ultimately came down to the fake. How it all happened and why it happened that one of the testimonies of the loud action turned out to be made in Photoshop, we asked three witnesses of the incident: organizer and actionist Leda Garina, art activist Catherine Nenasheva and journalist Elena Kostyuchenko.
The idea of the action is mine: I was in a depressed mood that day, then I decided that I should arrange a rally in the Kremlin — at least try. Then I came here to explore, went to the Kremlin Museum. After that, we prepared a campaign with my colleagues - those whom I trusted, because I understood that this is a very dangerous event and, accordingly, I can only participate in it to a limited number of people.
Three girls came from St. Petersburg, we came to the apartment of one of our Moscow participants. We brought with us banners that were prepared in advance for three days in St. Petersburg. We used the technology that our colleagues used "Shvemy", - a letter with scarves. We understood that the control is very hard and we can carry only soft tissues with us - if we succeed and the authorities do not know about us at all.
Directly in the deployment of posters, not counting the operators, coordinators and others, six girls participated. We were divided into groups, the points were out of sight - that is, if someone did something, the other could not see if it turned out or not. We went our separate places - there were three of them on the territory of the Kremlin Museum and one in the Alexander Garden.
We had many operators and operators, and all sent photos to the same address. The picture that everyone is talking about was one of those that we received to our mail. We also had doubts about this picture, and after the action we were informed that the photo was a fake. On the other hand, we knew for sure that the participants of the action had a banner with this slogan. It's hard for me to say that I totally condemn the act with a photo. Because I condemn violence, discrimination and sexism in the media, in the media, in society. Compared to this, mounted photography does not seem to me to be serious.
The action at the Kremlin did not suit any particular group. They were feminists from different communities, half came from St. Petersburg, and the rest were Moscow directors, journalists, and artists. I do not think that the story of photo-photography can be considered a performance. A performance implies a concept that, at least in time, participants of the action can and should explain, and not a post on Varlamov's blog with very strange comments. (Ilya Varlamov’s blog post explains why it’s almost impossible to hang a poster on the Kremlin’s Corner Arsenal Tower. - Ed.).
Perhaps these photos were included in the press release on purpose, but I did not know about it. I posted only those materials that I personally shot - this is very important for me as for an art activist. I do not work with the concepts of media projects, only live. And all the more I do not accept the distribution of unverified photos in official press releases.
Although I don’t belong to a specific group of activists, it’s very important for me to know in advance how the action will be organized. It is a pity that after this situation and all the ridicule it will become harder to talk about feminism. But, despite this situation, I still support the participants in the rally at the Kremlin.
We went to the action with Anya Artemyeva, a photographer of Novaya Gazeta. We knew that the action was taking place at several points - inside and outside the Kremlin. The points were removed from each other, and since it all started at the same time, the photographer could not take a picture in one place, and then go to another. Between photographers and activists, there was an agreement that we drop all the pictures into one mail and then send photos from this mail to us.
At the point where we came with Anya, there were two girls: Leda and Marina. Leda was in a dress, inside which was the slogan "Men, get out of the Kremlin!". They unfurled this dress and were detained by the FSO. We were also detained; then they were transferred to the “China Town” ATS, where a bit later two more detained girls and a photographer were brought. Already at the Department of Internal Affairs, when everyone started sending out announcements, we saw that there was a photograph of the tower. I began to find out from activists what kind of picture. According to them, at the very beginning, when the action was discussed, several girls decided to write the slogan “National Idea - Feminism”. Other girls did not agree with them. The group that wrote this slogan decided to go separately. Everyone saw how they painted this banner, so when the photo came, there was no doubt that everything worked out for them. The activists were glad for them, but began to get worried because their phones were turned off. The girls thought that they were either detained, or they managed to leave, they turned off the phones and left the city for some time, which is logical.
We knew other photographers and trusted them. From the point where I and my colleague Anya Artemyeva (Ivanovskaya Square) were, we, of course, did not see this tower. We have not seen a single point, except our own, like everyone else. When we collected a photo report from the action and I wrote a note, we trusted colleagues who were in other positions. Since several photographers were outside the Kremlin, we naturally thought that this photo was taken by one of them, and we were upset that we ourselves had not guessed that the outside would be more spectacular. Then, after the publication, when we began to find out the details, it turned out that this photo was sent from the newly created address. This in itself does not constitute any evidence - new addresses are often created for photos of such actions, because if the security forces want to open a criminal case against activists, they, as a rule, look for them through journalists and photographers, this is the easiest way.
This morning, from different sides, messages began to arrive that it might be photoshop. The activists managed to contact these girls, and they confirmed that it was a montage. As I understand it, they have not yet explained their motivation to anyone. As a journalist, I feel terrible in this situation, because my newspaper, with my filing, published a fake photo from a non-existent event. I apologize for this from my readers. But if the situation has indeed developed in this way, then I still do not see at what stage it could have been prevented. Of course, you need to talk with these girls, find out their names, who they are. This may be a deliberate provocation - if so, then it worked gorgeous. If this was an attempt at photoshop actionism, then it is disgusting: they set up their fellow members, hurt many journalists, and now, I think, trust between activists and journalists has gone down well.
Varlamov has a blog written on what grounds one can look at the photo and understand that changes were made to it earlier than the event occurred. It is, in fact, very easy to get around. Today I thought a lot about media security. No media can keep enough photographers on staff to post to all events. Therefore, there is an element of trust. We buy photos, including in news agencies. This photo is sold out to all news agencies.
Cover: Wikimedia commons