Anton Ginzburg (born 1974) is a St Petersburg born artist who has lived and worked in New York since 1990.
He’s a sculptor and photographer and has shown his works in Venice, Tokyo, Russia and the US. The photos below are taken from his Hyperborea series created in 2011. They’re quite special.
Hyperborea in Greek Mythology is described as “a place of pure bliss, perpetual sunlight and eternal springtime.” The Greeks believed that the Hyperboreans were a mysterious people that lived “beyond the North Winds.”
This mythical land sees 24 hours of sunlight and, because it’s situated above the North Winds, its climate is distinctly clement.
In the 4th Century, Hyperborea was allegedly tracked down by Hecataeus of Abdera – a tiny island off the coast of Northern Scotland. This island was supposed to be surprisingly temperate and lush for its situation.
Seventeenth century Scandinavians also picked up on the myth; they identified with the story of the Hyperboreans because of their particularly long summer days. They assumed they would have something in common.
Some more modern, esoteric thinkers came up with the (rather crackpot) theory that man hadn’t evolved from the apes, rather he devolved as he traveled further from his ancestral home near the Hyperborean poles. Other folks theorise that the Hyperboreans were, in fact, aliens who chose to live near the poles because the conditions were more like their home planet. Both theories are a little mad, but you have to admire the intrigue.
In more recent times, word got out that this magical place is actually located near the gulag prison camps by the White Sea in Russia. Close to the towns of Kem and the Kuzovsky and Solovetsky archipelagos.
This is where our photographer Ginzburg decided to search for himself; thankfully he took some pictures along the way.
Ginzburg is in love with history as much as he is art; this series of photos represents his journey to find the magical land of Hyperborea. He traveled to the frozen north and visited strange antiquated museums and buildings along the way…
