2008
Photo Exhibit “America from West to East and Back” Makes a Festive Mood
On 2 December, local Russian publisher, photographer and adventurer Vladimir Sidenko invited Vladivostok CG Thomas Armbruster and PAO Bridget Gersten to attend the opening of his photo exhibit “America from West to East and Back”. In summer 2008, Sidenko and his wife Tatyana traveled over 9,500 miles in a VW Beetle across the whole of the United States, taking photos and videos that are currently on exhibit at the local Arsenyev Museum Exhibition Hall. The project complemented their previous trip across Russia in 2007, one that also resulted in a rich photo show. Various local media quoted CG Armbruster who stressed how such expeditions and exhibits help people to understand one another. TV station Rossia interviewed PAO Gersten, who noted that the exhibit “is a great example of public diplomacy and the power of travel to open and expand minds and mutual understanding”.