The monuments being built bear witness to the greatness of their builders. How quickly the eye lets itself be caught by the gleaming grandeur of these recently erected buildings and how good it is that there are photographers like Frank Herfort, who by placing them in a completely new context shed another light on them. Their monumentality, their out of placeness, their singularity and megalomania becomes apparent. Perhaps it is also only the western viewpoint which alters the perspective. The response to Herfort’s works is, in any case, frequently a gasp of astonishment, a smile or a shaking of the head in disbelief. He shows the signs of the present Russian times, as a fusion of old and new, rich and poor. He tells of courage and failure, visions of the future and despondency, aspiration and reality. In his photography he filters the disjointedness and the ambivalence of this great and, without doubt, unbelievably exciting country.
