The photograph immediately makes me wonder: What is this man doing with his long pole in the fire, twirling around it like an elegant ballet-dancer following some choreography of his own drawing in earth, air and fire?
The connection between the man with the pole and his surroundings is far from obvious. Garbage bags everywhere on the ground; a wall in disrepair, or destroyed. These elements speak of dereliction. Many other objects are scattered about, barely identifiable - theatrical props may be. But then there are two trees, real trees. It would have to be an open-air theater; the picture taken from the top rows, which the high-angle shot makes plausible.
Two other pictures by the same photographer seem to have been taken in the same country, a country I do not identify, a country with no tarmacked roads, only dirt tracks. The three pictures share the same mood.
The power lines are not buried; provisional lines have been connected to the main cables to bring electricity to houses with makeshift roofs.
The only possible clue is a van’s license plate.
The only possible clue is a van’s license plate.
I have no idea of how to identify the place.
I ask ChatGPT a few questions and get the following answers. The plate format – X373AA seems to point to Russia; it is common in Russia to have the plate replicated in a bigger font directly on the vehicle to make police controls easier and to comply with visual identification regulation. The three digits “373” could suggest the vehicle was registered in the Rostov region.
I do not know whether the photographer went to Rostov - which is no tourist hotspot, nor whether the van, allegedly from Rostov, had travelled elsewhere, to some other place where the picture was taken. But it doesn’t look like it can cope with very long distances. So, if the van is from Rostov, and if the three pictures were taken in the same place, the man with the pole could actually be living near Rostov, a town close to the Donbas border.
In any case, in 2025, the elegant Russian man with his pole sparks many hypotheses about his fate:
he looks young, so he has been incorporated in the Russian army;
he has gone to the front, unless his being a dancer has protected him and he is in some office on the rear lines - rather unlikely.
He is no longer kindling the fire with his pole; he is no longer dancing; he is no longer alive.
He fled Russia when the war began.
he looks young, so he has been incorporated in the Russian army;
he has gone to the front, unless his being a dancer has protected him and he is in some office on the rear lines - rather unlikely.
He is no longer kindling the fire with his pole; he is no longer dancing; he is no longer alive.
He fled Russia when the war began.
Today, on January 6th 2025, in the media:
The Ukrainian army announced they attacked an oil depot in the Rostov Oblast, South Russia, on Friday; they say oil supplies are now ablaze – a fact the local media had already reported.
Earlier, the Russian forces had announced the interception of 47 Ukrainian drones, among which 29 in the Rostov Oblast, where the headquarters of the Russian Operation in Ukraine are encamped.
The Ukrainian army announced they attacked an oil depot in the Rostov Oblast, South Russia, on Friday; they say oil supplies are now ablaze – a fact the local media had already reported.
Earlier, the Russian forces had announced the interception of 47 Ukrainian drones, among which 29 in the Rostov Oblast, where the headquarters of the Russian Operation in Ukraine are encamped.
I come back to the photograph taken before the war. The poetry emanating from the man with the pole dancing around the fire has vanished; all beauty is wiped out. Young man on the picture, where are you now? When I chose the photo, I did not know it would bring me up against the impossibility of writing a text from it. I write no words on this picture. It is impossible. The photograph means nothing but war. It is war.
