Mintimer Shaimiev visits exhibition “70 portraits of Great Victory” of photo artist Farid Gubayev

On May 12, Tatarstan State Counsellor Mintimer Shaimiev visited photo exhibition of Farid Gubayev “70 portraits of Great Victory” that opened at “Manege” exhibition complex at the Kazan Kremlin.

The exhibition, which displayed 70 black and white portraits photos of WWII heroes from Tatarstan, is dedicated to WWII veterans and workers of the home front and opened with the auspices of regional office of the “United Russia” party. The author of the project, a famous Kazan photo artist, honoured artist of the Republic of Tatarstan, member of the Association of photo artists of Russia and Moscow Union of Graphic Artists Farid Gubayev said he had been thinking of making such portraits for years and it became especially topical on the threshold of the 70th anniversary of Victory in WWII.

For 2.5 months Gubayev visited all regions of Tatarstan and took pictures of 200 people. He suggested creating a book “One Victory for all” to use other portraits with biographies and archival military photos.

“This book should be not for sale, it will be handed over to our heroes and it should be available in libraries, and museums. We are going to publish it until the end of the year. Working with veterans was the most impressive moment of the project, he added. “A lot of veterans live in their parents’ houses and they appreciate it and do not want to move to the city. I respect this and I wanted to show it in my pictures. These people are so strong, they managed to keep their self-esteem, they do not rush around, do not cry, do not ask for anything. They tell so little about war. The only thing they say: “thanks God I came back home alive,” the artist said.

Mintimer Shaimiev thanked people who took part in organization of the exhibition and personally Farid Gubayev, and shared his impressions about the portraits. Shaimiev supported the idea of creating a book with pictures of WWII veterans.