Comment by Lou Siroy

Locusts by the Russian-born photographer Sasha Gusov reads like a catalogue of peculiar human behaviour across the world (Gusov spent five years travelling to complete his “anthropological investigation”).

The black-and-white format is gritty and documentary-like, but the images are, by contrast, lighthearted and funny. Aspiring snappers can take inspiration from Gusov’s sense of the absurd, and his fascination with finding extraordinary details in ordinary situations.

He also teaches us to be prepared for those bizarre, fleeting events. These pictures might seem accidental, but a great deal of anticipation has gone into them — Gusov has carefully waited for his moment.

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About Locusts

The collection of 309 clichés is divided into eight chapters, each focusing on a strange and somewhat unflattering aspect of what Gusov calls “the concept of mass mentality”: “Justified Means” shows the tourist eternally behind the camera, or people hooked to their telephone. “Consuming Passions” is about the modern mania of acquisition; “Satanic Mills” explores scientific and technological revolution and its damage on man’s soul. “Last Resort” is about holidays…

The name of the place where the picture was taken, a date, apart from that no text is added to comment the snatches of life Gusov captured. Each picture comes alone to show a crude image of the contemporary man in his daily activities, as he behaves when he thinks nobody is looking.

Sasha Gusov first major photographic project was images of the Bolshoi Ballet and appeared in 1993. His work has since appeared in The Times and various other British newspapers. He has published one other book, Shooting Images.

Locusts is published by Thames & Hudson, priced £24.95

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