The Russian Ending, 2001

The Russian Ending, a portfolio of twenty black and white photogravures, borrows its title from the early Danish cinema tradition of making two alternate endings for a film: one happy for the American market and one tragic for Russian audiences.

All images are derived from postcards collected by Dean in her visits to European flea markets. Most of the images depict accidents and disasters, both man-made and natural. Superimposed on each image are white handwritten notes in the style of film directions with instructions for lighting, sound and camera movements, suggesting that each picture is a working notation for a film. Dean’s interventions encourage viewers to formulate narratives leading up to the tragic denouements in the prints, engaging and implicating the audience in the creative process.