WOMAN FINDS 30,000 NEGATIVES IN HER EXPIRED MOTHER’S ATTIC REVEALING SOVIET UNION’S MYSTERIOUS PAST

 

The year is 2017 and Asya Ivashintsova-Melkumyan is busy cleaning the clutter from her ancestral home. She suddenly stumbled upon something that she never expected she would find. A big box full of images that tell the story of her mother’s turbulent life. What she doesn’t know is that the images also shed a revealing light on the lives of people in the Soviet Union. Wait until you find out the secrets hidden deep.

Childhood

Asya was born to a linguist named Melvar Melkumyan and Masha Ivashintsova. She was supposed to have a normal childhood like the other kids but fate had something else planned for her. Both her parents loved Aysa but sadly failed to love each other. This led to a setback in Aysa’s life that left a hollow very deep. 

Early Separation

Aysa was only a little girl when her parents decided to separate. The family was broken. While Masha, Aysa’s mother decided to stay in Leningrad- a Russian city (now Petersburg), Aysa with her father moved to Moscow, 450 long miles away from her mother. 

The Capital

At the time when Aysa moved to Moscow, it was the capital city of the Soviet Union and was located in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. It was a big territory and life there was a lot different from small cities. 

Collapse Of The Soviet Union

It was in 2000 when Aysa’s mother passed away and by that time the Soviet Union had collapsed and a new Russia was beginning to take its place. Life was now about to change for Aysa as the 21st century had seen its dusk and had something new to offer. 

A Difficult Life

Masha died of Cancer at the age of 58. According to what Aysa told to My Modern Met, it was an end to a rather difficult and bumpy life. Aysa couldn’t bear what her mother went through and the only thing that Aysa wanted was to forget the past and the torments that her mother had faced. 

Moving On

“Everything that reminded me of her caused great pain and my only longing back then was to clear all of what belonged to her from my sight.” She hid away all her belongings in an attic of her family’s house only to find it back after almost two decades. 

Back In Time

Asya could never have known what she was about to find when she decided to weed out the unnecessary things that were hidden down the storeroom for so many years now. A box that stored all her mother’s belongings. 

The Box Of Secrets

Aysa found a collection of very safely preserved film negatives inside labeled envelops. These must have been kept by her mother and with these reels, Aysa also found other belongings of her mother. These were the things that Aysa herself had put here but finding them after so many years was still a revelation. 

Reluctant To Delve

Aysa had still not got over her mother’s death and did not want to go back to the memories. “I did not want to look at them since I was afraid it would bring all the memories back,” she said. She was reluctant to find what images did the negatives hold. 

A Hidden Treasure

Despite Aysa’s unwillingness to reveal the photos, her husband Egor believed that the photos might hold something of importance and value and he readily borrowed a scanner to reveal the glory the images held. 

Still Fragile

Egor might have been interested in the find but Aysa was still fragile when it came to her mother’s memories. It took quite some time for her to appreciate the significance of the photos. “My pain did not allow me to see,” she went on to say, “I right away imagined my mother’s fragility, her emotional bitterness.”

A Treasure Coming To Life

Eventually, Egor started bringing the negatives to life and Aysa managed to bring herself up to see the legacy of her mother, however painful it might be. Soon it was evident that what they had stumbled upon were not ordinary photographs. The collection consisted of 30,000 incredible underdeveloped negatives. 

A Life Through Images

The images were accompanied by diaries that gave a glimpse of Masha’s life in the Soviet Union. Aysa had an experience of living her mother’s life through her images and words. Although it was evident that the world had changed yet the past seemed to be another world. 

Out In The Open

After what Aysa had experienced, she decided to share it with the world. The album was soon released on the internet and to her surprise, it gathered a reception that she had never thought. When developed into photos the negatives came up revealing the typical lifestyle in the Soviet Union. 

The Russian Revolution

It was this revolution that changed the face of Russia for good and this was the time when we saw Bolshevik government rise to power. Five years after this upheaval, the Soviet Union was formed. Masha was born in the year 1942 which was 25 years after the Russian Revolution. 

The Cold War

The Soviet Union had gradually extended its reach across most of Europe by the end of World War II. But the future awaited with uncertainties. By the time Masha was born the period of Cold War had taken over as the territory was about to become the epicenter of a major political and social change. 

An Early Start

Masha had started clicking these pictures when she was just 18. That is how the 30,000 photos were stored in a negative. She was a very keen photographer and she clicked everything she found worthwhile and that is why these photos revealed so much of normal life. Children, old people, men going to work, she clicked everything that talked about life. 

Royalty Snatched

Masha’s family once was a reputed one and had a fortune but when the revolution happened, all aristocracy and opulent lodgings that they possessed were confiscated and they were left with a very humble neighborhood. The camera though remained Masha’s dearest possession. 

Lofty Aspirations

Though the family was vanquished of all riches and luxury they still had lofty aspirations. For the sake of her grandma’s wish, Masha was made to join the ballerina tutorials. The family was convinced that this would prove to be a bad choice for her career so soon after her grandmother died Masha was transferred to a technical school. 

A Theater Critic

Mahsa found her first job as an artist and a theater critic. She was into the arts and found her work rewarding. Everything was going fine when Masha had to face something that made her life so miserable that her daughter was till today scared to look into her past.  

The Setback

It was only after a few years that Masha’s family realized that she was suffering from a mental disorder. Now began the tedious journey of Aysa’s mother. The life after the revelation wen ton becoming difficult. While Masha struggled to live a normal life, the Soviet Union was growing leap and bounds. 

Underground Photography

Until 1960, Masha captured several images depicting the light and life of people in the Soviet Union but after that she found herself capturing the poetry movement that thrived in the city for more than two decades. This underground life at Leningrad gave her the most fascinating content for her photos and these were the images that the source of wonder when they were released. 

Curbing Creativity

Khrushchev Thaw was a period where creative communities of writers, painters, and philosophers were forced to remain underground. Many prominent creative personalities contributed to this movement. One such famous poet and novelist in this movement was Viktor Krivulin. He was a widely read writer and an important figure in the underground scene. 

The Unstable Relationship

Masha and Viktor came into a love relationship which lasted a bit long but was full of ups and downs. Over the years their relationship ended and rekindled a lot of times but there must have been a reason why they stuck together. Then came another phase that added situations in Masha’s life.

The Marriage

Even after Viktor eventually married another woman, his relationship with Masha continued, with the same turbulence. It was a few years later when another creative captured Masha’s heart. In 1972 Masha began a relationship with Boris Smelov. He was another big name in the underground creative corridor. 

The Duo

Boris was a photographer just like Masha. He was a famous photographer but his constant brawl with the union’s authorities became a serious problem for his profession. In a matter of time, he could only showcase his work in unlawful and illegal exhibitions. But Boris continued to remain popular among underground artists. 

Another Heartbreak

Then came another heartbreak that shattered her forever and she started to feel that love wasn’t made for her. In the same year when Masha divorced Aysa’s father, she broke up with Boris. It was her love for these three men and the feeling of not being able to live with any of them that gave her a difficult time. This kept her sad until the end of her days. 

The Inhibition

Each of the men who were in a relationship with Masha was a big name. Famous for the role they had played in the creative world. This made Masha constantly live under their shadow. This made her a bit reluctant of showcasing her photos in the open. This is why the negatives were never revealed to another living soul.

The Introvert Genius

Aysa believes that her mother was a genius but she never realized it herself. She never let the world see what she was from within. Mahsa herself agrees to this when in a note in her diary she says,

“I loved without memory, I never had a memory for myself, but always for others.” This reflects the selfless trait Aysa’s mother carried. 

Disintegrating Health

By the year 1981, Masha’s health had seen a new low. Soon she was out of work and since unemployment was a criminal offense then, Masha was given to choose between a medical facility or the prison cell. Masha chose to spend her life in the Mental rehabilitation center than behind the bars. Life could not have been crueler to Aysa’s mother. 

Ten Years Of Torture

The following 10 years proved to be very disturbing for Masha. It became seriously difficult for her to cope with the system and discipline of the hospital. The strict regime of the hospital started breaking her slowly and the struggle was now of survival. Her mental health and broken confidence slowly made her lose her grip on life. It was about time when she would give up.

Yet Another Change

While Masha struggled to cope with situations, the world around her witnessed yet another change. Russia saw Mikhail Gorbachev rise to power and with him becoming the leader of the Soviet Union, the state of Russia embarked on a journey of political and economic reforms. The underground world of a literary bunch of people who had hidden away from the center of power gradually began to ease. 

The Change Clicked

The state was rapidly changing under the rule of Gorbachev and Masha kept on clicking everything she saw worth in. Masha’s photographs talk about the journey of dissolution of the Soviet Union and Leningrad changing to St. Petersburg and Boris Yeltsin taking over as the President of the newly formed Russian Federation. 

Passion Carried Forward

The Soviet Union had become a thing of past but Masha did not abandon her camera. She kept on clicking those photographs that today tell us a lot about the changing lives of people as the state was changing. The photos Masha clicked are the mirror of the then Russian lifestyle and culture. Every small detail that Masha focused her lenses on today are facts of the study. 

Random Jobs

Photography might have been Masha’s passion and she might have pursued it till the end of her days but passion sometimes does not pay for rent. She soon found herself doing odd jobs that would pay her for a square meal. Throughout her life, she relied on varied jobs as she could not stick to one accounting her physical health and mental issues. 

The Real Talent

Over a while, Masha worked as, a design engineer, a librarian, an elevator mechanic, and even a security guard. Her real talent was hidden from the world until her daughter found the reels that consisted of the brilliant photographs clicked by Masha. Aysa is now working on making sure that her mother’s work is shown to the world and she receives the recognition that is due to her. 

The Equipment

Masha belonged to a privileged family for the most part at the beginning of her life and that made her afford the best of equipment for her passion. She either used a Rolleiflex or a Leica IIIc camera for basic photography but some of her photos have also been clicked with Ikoflex or Zorki. These were really popular equipment made in the Soviet Union itself. The film that was used to capture these images was Svema. It was manufactured in Ukraine. 

Due Recognition

Bringing to life, such a vast volume of work was itself a difficult task. When Aysa first encountered the image she was in no mood to share it with the world. But eventually, she realized that sharing her mother’s work with the world will give her the fame and recognition that she did not receive in her life. 

A Helping Hand

These were thousands of photographs that had to be published for the world. The job wasn’t easy and Aysa would need help from as many people as she could get. Her husband and she asked for every helping hand they could and finally managed to gather a group of friends who were happy to oblige. 

The Work Begins

Aysa with her husband hired a few assistants and got to the painstaking work of archiving, scanning and exhibiting thousands of these photographs. The work was tedious but Aysa’s dedication of bringing her mother’s work to light has shown them the way and things are going good.

Unknown Treasure

The team has been working tirelessly in bring out the images but the astonishing part is that even with so many months of hard and arduous work the job is still not accomplished. Thousands of photos yet need to be published and who knows what treasures and secrets the remaining photos can reveal. 

Into Masha’s Life

For Aysa these photos are more than just an explanation about the past but an insight into her mother’s life. Aysa told that for her mother photography was a part of life. She clicked photos like it was breathing. It was a process of significance. She also believes that her mother stuck to photography until the last years of her life because it gave hope against everything that was going wrong in her life. 

The Diary

More than the photos, Aysa believes that the diary of her mother said a lot of her life. She let it all out on the pages of her diary. Her struggles, her fight, her love, her photos, and her life. Her vulnerability was all visible through her words. After all, she had done to give it back to her mother she still feels that she could have done more to make her life easier.

Ignored While Alive

The photos were exuberant and dynamic. It all proved that she was good at her work but while she lived she was not given the importance and that is why Aysa believes that it is really important to bring her and her work to life. Being her daughter it was her duty to bring her legacy to life. 

Acquiring Fame

Thankfully, their hard work has paid off and the website and social media handle have seen significant growth in followers and admirers. Masha’s work is now available online for the world to see. Apart from online fame, the photos have also found their way at exhibitions in the Polish city of Bydgoszcz and New York.

Mixed Blessings

The website gathered a lot of attention. The reactions came flooding in but with so many people following the blog, the reactions were bound to be mixed. Many people were talking about her work now. Some of them were even judging. With everything that was coming her way, Aysa has only one thing to say, “But at the same time, I am sure she would be grateful for this appreciation and support that is coming from all parts of the world.”

Vivian Maier

Masha’s story is similar to the famous Vivian Maier. Her work too was unrecognized while she was alive but after her death, more than 150,000 photos clicked by her through her life were revealed and instantly became a hit. She was an American woman whose photos consisted of city life across New York and Los Angeles. 

Her Fascinating Lens

The streets of Chicago in the 1950s and 60s are all covered in her work and give an insight into the vibrant city life in that era. Mahsa’s work seeks to do the same for the Soviet Union and luckily it is receiving the applaud that is missed when Mahsa was alive. Her fascinating lens that saw the world differently now for us to appreciate.