Private Moon Installation in Snowwhite Gallery. New Zealand, Aukland. 2011

Leonid Tishkov is showing an exciting series of staged photographs that track his “private moon” through different environments and in different contexts. A delicious slice of moon illuminates the scenes in which it is placed giving a sense of aloneness and isolation in the face of this timeless, universal symbol. The moon is a persuasive celestial force, but when put in the context of the millions of ‘electric moons’ of late capitalist society it is stripped of much of its poetry and seems at odds with its environment. This is a searching show that raises cosmic questions about human alienation in a post-industrial world.