Heidi Hollinger

Heidi Hollinger (born in Montreal, 1968) is widely credited with having revolutionized political photography in Russia^{[citation needed]} during her 10-year residence in Moscow during the 1990s. Her portraits of leading politicians captured the spirit of Russian cultural emerging from behind the walls of the former Soviet bureaucracy. Her professional exploits and personal life were followed by the national media, making her, in the words of former Canadian Ambassador to Russia, Rodney Irwin, "the best-known Canadian in Russia".^{[citation needed]}

Education

In 1990, she graduated from McGill University with a Bachelor¹s Degree in Modern Languages. She speaks English, French, Russian, Spanish and some Finnish. In 1991 she moved to Moscow to teach English at Moscow State University and in 1992 became a graduate student in Political Science. In 1994 she began working as the first non-Russian photo editor at the leading national daily newspaper Pravda. In the same year, her first photography exhibit, "Faces of the Opposition", opened at the Moscow Photo Center featuring stylistically unprecedented photographs of Russia's political elite, and was later shown in cities across Russia, as well as in Montreal and Los Angeles.

After opening a photo studio in Moscow, she photographed over 100 political conventions in Russia, and travelled extensively to photograph other world leaders, including Vladimir Putin, Mikhail Gorbachev, Jean Chrétien, Fidel Castro, and the Dalai Lama.

In 1995, the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) produced a 45-minute documentary film entitled Heidi: Une Montréalaise à Moscou, which aired in Canada, the U.K., Japan, Norway and Australia. In 1996, Russia State Television (RTR) named her "photographer of the year".

Prizes

In 1998 she was awarded first and third prizes for best photographs in the category "people" in the all-Russian photo contest "Interfoto". In 1999, Russian magazine Ogonyok named her "success of the year". In 2001, a major retrospective of her work, titled "10 years in Moscow", was exhibited at the Canadian Parliament and the Russian Embassy in Ottawa. Between 1999 and 2002 she published five books in Canada, the United States,and Russia. Her photographs have been published in leading publications, including Newsweek, Time, Esquire, the New York Times, Harper's Bazaar, Macleans, The Globe and Mail, La Presse, Stern, Pravda and Ogonyok.

In 2002, The Russians Emerge (Abbeville Press, New York) was launched with an exhibition at the Russian Consulate in New York. It documents a great culture in the throes of social and political rebirth through portraits of Russians from across the political and economic spectrum and features a text by Russia expert Jonathan Sanders and a foreword by Mikhail Gorbachev.

In 2010 she will be the host of "Ports d'attache" on TV5, a television series taking a look at great coastal cities of history seen from the eyes of the present and the people that make those cities great today. It is also known as "Waterfront Cities of the World" on Discovery World HD which is aired in English.

Selected exhibitions

• Faces of the Opposition, Moscow Photo Center (1994)
• Faces of the Opposition, Kazan, Tartarstan (1994)
• Faces of the Opposition, Omsk, Russia (1994)
• Building Moscow, Moscow City Hall (1995)
• Faces of the Opposition, Bergamot Station Galleries, Los Angeles (1995)
• Politicians from A to Z, The State Duma, Moscow (1996)
• New Genre: The Russian Political Portrait, Manezh Gallery, Moscow (1996)
• Contemporary Artists, Metropole, Moscow (1996)
• Politicians, Almaty (1998); Saratov (1999)
• Peculiarities of National Politicians, Manezh Central Exhibition Hall, Moscow (1999)
• Peculiarities of National Politicians, The State Duma, Moscow (2000)
• Russians, Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow (2000)
• Russians, Canadian Embassy, Moscow (2000)
• Russians, Mike Bossy, Montreal (2000)
• 100 years of Moscow (as part of group show), Montreal City Hall (2000)
• 10 years in Moscow, Canadian Parliament, Ottawa (2001)
• 10 years in Moscow, Russian Embassy, Ottawa (2001)
• The Russians Emerge, Russian Consulate, New York (2002)
• The Russians Emerge, Philadelphia (2003)
• The Russians Emerge, Cirque du Soleil, Montreal (2003)
• The Russians Emerge, The Arts Factory, Las Vegas (2004)
• The Russians Emerge, Carlu, Toronto (2004)
• The Himalayas, Biosphere, Montreal (2004)
• Selected Histories, Groupe Cossette, Montreal (2004)
• Distinct Society, HollingerCollins Gallery, Montreal (2006)

Collections

Hollinger’s photos can be found in the permanent collections of the Moscow History Museum, the Moscow House of Photography, the Cirque du Soleil and the Montreal Museum of Contemporary Art.

Books

• Heidi Chez Les Soviets, Les Intouchables, Montreal, 1999.
• Peculiarities of Russian Politicians, Vagrius, Moscow, 1999.
• Les Russes, Les Éditions Stanké, Montreal, 2000.
• Russians, Vagrius, Moscow, 2000.
• The Russians Emerge, Abbeville Press, New York, 2002.
• Monsieur Poutine, Vous Permettez?, Editions la Semaine, Montreal 2008.

External links

• Heidi Hollinger's website
• "The Heidi Chronicles" McGill News, alumni quarterly, spring 2001