At the end of July 2022, my brothers invited me on a small family fishing trip. I felt it was a different kind of trip, so I accepted their invitation. Being in the same boat with my brothers (literally), I saw them as caring and passionate, even romantic people. I felt that the bond between us was much stronger than I had ever felt before.
I was right: this trip was different. Vladimir, my older brother, got cancer. Stage II lymphoma. Since our trip, he has faced a long and arduous course of treatment, including chemotherapy. And we, as a family, were there to support him — just as we were on the boat that day.
Vladimir standing at the window after arriving at the fishing house. Rybinsk Reservoir, Russia. Thursday, July 21, 2022.
Vladimir standing on a boat in a hat with a brim. He needs to protect his skin from the bright direct sunlight. Rybinsk Reservoir, Russia. Friday, July 22, 2022.
Mikhail’s hand covered in his own blood. He was bitten by a fish he caught while trying to get it off the hook. Rybinsk Reservoir, Russia. Friday, July 22, 2022.A boat on the water at sunset. Rybinsk Reservoir, Russia. Saturday, July 23, 2022.Vladimir, Ivan and Mikhail on a boat at sunset. They gather gear to return to the fishing house. Rybinsk Reservoir, Russia. Friday, July 22, 2022.Vladimir on a boat. He is turning to look over his shoulder at the bird that is following him from sunset to the fishing house. Rybinsk Reservoir, Russia. Friday, July 22, 2022.The red sunset. Rybinsk Reservoir, Russia. Thursday, July 22, 2022.“Well, you know what’s good? No tight knots. Everything should unravel,” Vladimir tells me at the fishing house, while changing the patch hiding the seam on his neck. He got this stitch after a tumor biopsy. Rybinsk Reservoir, Russia. Friday, July 22, 2022.A dead bird lies on a concrete floor at a car wash. She crashed into brothers’ car and got stuck in the car’s grill, while we were returning from the Rybinsk Reservoir to Moscow. Ramenskoye, Russia. Sunday, July 24, 2022.
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Andrey Ludmer is a visual artist and documentarian based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. He works on the themes of personal self-evaluation and relations between people, using the photographic language and its derivatives to encapsulate his feelings and observations about reality.
Born in Moscow Oblast, Russia (1991), Andrey graduated from the Academy of Documentary and Art Photography “Fotografika” in Saint Petersburg in 2023. His portfolio includes several multimedia photo-based projects and three photo books. Andrey’s books “The Flower Will Always Be a Flower, Even If It Dried Up” and “…A Huge Blue Concrete Cover” are in the collection of the Garage Museum of Contemporary Art in Moscow, Russia.
