Chekhov’s sakhalin: Photographic fixation of the Island

Abstract

The article examines the photographic representations of Sakhalin in the end of XIX century, in the period of A. P. Chekhov’s stay on the island. Sakhalin is viewed as a peculiar cultural and geographical space with clear frontier characteristics. Sakhalin regional identity is seen as formed on the basis of ideas of “the remote island – continent” and “the place of nameless misery”. Beginning with an analysis of Sakhalin in the context of imperial imagination, authors rediscover a photofixation of the island in the above-mentioned period. Analysis of Chekhov’s photo collection is addressed to the works of frontier and memory studies as well as visual anthropology. The article is based on empirical data of Archive of Amur region Research Society (Vladivostok) and photos from Benedict Dybovsky’s (1833–1930) album that is stored in Kamchatka Regional United Museum (Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky). Developing a discourse about photography as a valuable resource for visual representation of the frontier territories, the authors give systematization and classification of the main images of Sakhalin at the end of XIX century (a case of photographer I. I. Pavlovsky), present the correlation between photographic and literary images as well as reveal the role of those photos in perception of Sakhalin inside and outside of an empire. The article argued that visual criteria of Sakhalin’s life were created by means of typical protagonist’s positions and scenes (labor and everyday life of hard laborers), physical anthropology (indigenous faces, faces of criminals), architect and natural landscape of the island. The authors came to the conclusion that photos of Sakhalin as well as literary works on the island depict the visible margins between Sakhalin and other parts of Russia and present the specifics of Sakhalin regional identity. © 2020 Tomsk State Pedagogical University. All rights reserved.