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Item: Fighters without Rules / Бійці без правил

Sergey Bratkov / Сергій Братков

2000

Photography, 6 x (90 x 60 cm).
Materials: photo on aluminium

Collection: Collection M HKA, Antwerp / Collection Flemish Community (Inv. no. BK007493).

The series Fighters without Rules consists of portraits of exhausted yet triumphant boxers made immediately after their fights. Nothing remains of the event, only the injures, and the dim light, a setting that does not lend itself to anything other than a snapshot of the drained hero.  This series is an example of Bratkov's documentary photography, which lacks the irony of his staged pictures, but remains heavy and painfully sharp. As the title suggests, these boxers operate within the Russian world of illegal boxing, which is a world without rules. Bratkov takes the portraits from a certain distance, in order to capture the true emotion of the moment. The melancholy, bleak expressions of the boxers reflect some of the bleak social circumstances of post-soviet Russia.

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The M HKA is a museum for contemporary art, film and visual culture in its widest sense. It is an open place of encounter for art, artists and the public. The M HKA aspires to play a leading role in Flanders and to extend its international profile by building upon Antwerp's avant-garde tradition. The M HKA bridges the relationship between artistic questions and wider societal issues, between the international and the regional, artists and public, tradition and innovation, reflection and presentation. Central here is the museum's collection with its ongoing acquisitions, as well as related areas of management and research.

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