Exhibition captures emotions of war

A black-and-white photo of a soldier standing in fog with his head hanging low is the first image to greet visitors at pictura gallery.

“Tangi 2” is one of many poignant photographs in Dima Gavrysh’s exhibition, titled “Inshallah,” which opened Friday.

The gallery is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. The exhibit will remain on display through Jan. 26.

Mia Dalglish, co-curator at pictura gallery, said Gavrysh’s work goes beyond documenting war in Afghanistan.

“It’s about telling an emotional truth,” Dalglish said. “He does that so effectively. All the prints draw you in. They’re very tactile.”

“Inshallah” documents the Soviet and American occupations of Afghanistan from Gavrysh’s point of view.

One photograph, titled “Suicide Bomber,” captures the motion of a flock of birds flying away.

“Air Assault 2” shows the shadows of a group of men who are staring at the stars in a night sky.

In his artist statement for the exhibit, Gavrysh said he was mesmerized by the chaos war causes in Afghanistan.

“It draws upon my childhood fantasies that romanticize the military and intertwines with my past and present personal conflicts,” Gavrysh wrote. “I create a dark fairy tale filled with my fears and dreams, based on my fascination with the army’s strength and order, set on the front lines of what has become America’s longest-running war in history.”

International publications such as the New York Times and Time magazine have featured photographs by Gavrysh, according to his artist biography. He completed his master of fine arts last year at Rhode Island School of Design.

Curator Lisa Berry said she first saw Gavrysh’s work during studio visits to the school in 2010.

“He was unsure about it at the time,” Berry said. “He had all these little prints in a grid, and they were memorable.”

The photographs in the exhibit, all 18-by-18-inch archival pigment prints, draw the viewer in. Context is notably absent from all the photos, giving them a beautiful but nightmarish quality.

“When you look at them, there’s such a pervasive mood,” Dalglish said. “You’re just immediately pulled into this world that he creates.”

High school art teacher Krystal Higgins said the sorrow and defeat portrayed in “Tangi 2,” the photo used on promotional photos for the exhibit, stood out to her the most.

“I think it’s profound,” Higgins said. “I love how the black and white has an ethereal quality, especially with the fogginess. It just creates the whole mood.”

Gavrysh will give a free talk about his work at 7 p.m. Jan. 24, at pictura gallery.

“We’re always really interested in someone that explores the boundary between fine art and photojournalism,” Dalglish said. “(Gavrysh) definitely stands out in that way.”