I am a Ukrainian photographer. I started working in photography in 2017. My practice consists of conventional and non-conventional approaches to documentary photography. My main motif is the complexity of the relationships between people. Other recurring themes are loss, memory, longing, and the experience of life struggles. My autobiographical stories are an important part of my work process. My aim is to share strong personal stories that can connect and resonate with different people, from different socio-cultural backgrounds, and to encourage empathy and understanding.
I rely on an anthropological notion of the lived experience of participants. I share some of my own stories in depth, as well as other people’s stories from their own lives. I place all these experiences in a broader context of the contemporary social issues that shape them. The past, as a memory and a shared set of stories, is understood through present-day voices, and in relation to present issues.
I experiment with the potential of visual and verbal languages to represent these ideas. I combine different photographic processes with poetic texts. I aim to encourage empathy, and our relation to other people’s stories, to discuss and understand our current social contexts.
My photography is influenced by the way I have come to respond to the memories of my experience of traumatic events in my early life. For a long time, these were difficult to process. Daydreaming and imagination became refuge, and myself grew more sensitive to the good moments in my life. I developed a sense of true joy from the contemplation of the beauty in things, and a strong attachment to those moments and the good people that became a part of myself. It is a dreamy vision of the world. And photography became the medium to express it. My work is inspired by the events, places, and people in my personal life. Some of the themes recurring in my work are memory, loss, family, longing, fantasy, and our connection to nature. Driving my practice is an underlying need to share stories and emotions, to reach out and realise we are not alone.
Education
2019 - 2021, MA Photojournalism and documentary photography, University of the Arts London, London College of Communication (with distinction).
2012 – 2016, Bachelor's degree in Linguistics, Adm. Makarov National University, Mykolaiv (Ukraine).
Exhibitions, awards, publications
Winner in Boundless Pictures' photography award in "Portrait" category, March 2024.
"Hi, Hey! Hello." group exhibition, The Dog and Bone Gallery and Fresh Salad Art, Brighton and Hove, November 2023.
Hammer Time 2023 Exhibition-Auction, as part of the Lisbon Art Weekend, Zaratan – Arte Contemporânea, Lisbon, November 2023.
"1.05 km2" portfolio featured in Kiosk of Democracy, September 2023.
"Why is it blue?" portfolio featured in Kiosk of Democracy, September 2023.
International Photography Exhibition 165, The Royal Photographic Society, shortlisted, July 2023.
Publication of "Body. Mind. Land" in F-Stop magazine, issue 119, "Open Theme", June - July 2023.
"Saramago Through the Lens", UK Parobrod, as part of the Belgrade Photo Month Festival, April 2023.
Special mention at Art Vue Foundation 2022 Yearly Prize, January 2023.
"Saramago através da lente", 3rd place, Center for Portuguese Language in Novi Sad and Festival Belgrade Photo Month, with the support of the Embassy of Portugal in Belgrade and Camões Institute, November 2022.
"Saramago através da lente", Exhibition Pavilion of the University of Novi Sad, November 2022.
Publication of portraits from "1.05 km2" in F-Stop magazine, issue 114, "The Portrait", August - September 2022.
"Why is it blue?" portfolio featured in About Place Journal, volume vii, issue 1, "Navigations: A Place for Peace", May 2022.
Publication of "Why is it blue?" in Where The Leaves Fall magazine, issue 10, "Culture/Diversity/Ancestry", 2022.
Winner of the Ancestry photo competition by Where the Leaves Fall magazine, April 2022.
“Why is it blue?” as a part of the graduate show, London College of Communication, November 2021.
Publication of "Why is it blue?" in Aesthetica Magazine, issue 102, August/September 2021.
Selected as one of Aesthetica's the Next Generation Award 10 nominees, August 2021.
Bartur Photo Award, shortlisted in the Student Award category, in the Unity in Diversity theme, 2021.
Friend-Ship Photography Award, finalist, 2019.
This-Ability Photography Exhibition, London, December 2018 - January 2019.
This-Ability Photography Award, finalist, 2018.