in the picture
w
Ols woman lived in one room, with her coffin in the other
discovered an old woman who had had a coffin prepared for herself. She lived in one room, with the coffin in the other. He also came across a 92-year-old man who had made similar arrangements, acquiring a coffin, and waiting for his death. He had placed it in his shed and whenever he finished off a bottle of vodka, he would
46 ColdType | Mid-December 2016 | www.coldtype.net
put the empty bottle into the coffin. When it was full, he passed the coffin on to somebody else, saying that it was a sign that his time had not yet come. When they came to take his photo, the old man sat at a table with his nephew, a bottle of vodka and two full shot glasses standing in front of them. Chekmenev also took photos of people who were mentally confused. They did not know what was going on, why they were being seated, or why he was taking pictures of them. One person, unable to move, had to be lifted from his bed. Two social workers held him in an upright position, whilst two others held the backdrop. Evidently, he too needed a new passport. Born in Eastern Ukraine, Alexander Chekmenev’s early work focused on people affected by the collapse of the Soviet Union. His is an intimate and unique insider view of the painful transition of what was once a major coal mining region. In 1997, he moved to Kiev, where he is as photojournalist. CT