I am a lens-based artist from Kyiv, Ukraine. The path to photography started from another profession (from the economic and legal field) and from another role (I was a housewife for many years). A period of honest questions to myself had begun in my life, and the camera had allowed me to release the accumulated and unrealized creative energy outside.
My visual language development was strongly influenced by aesthetics of modernism, especially by the work of an American artist Georgia O'Keeffe as well as the Japanese understanding of imperfect beauty, the reconciliation of people with nature. I was inspired by O'Keeffe's works because they evoked a strong connection with my native Ukrainian soul. Ukrainians love nature and have a strong desire for life at the genetic level, which is manifested in folk art using natural motifs and vital colors. Also, our culture isn’t about domination over nature, but about interaction with the forces of nature and this brings us closer to cultures, where nature is honored. I also admire the work of such photographers as Harry Callahan, Masao Yamamoto, Irving Penn, Ralph Gibson, Robert Mapplethorpe, Mona Kuhn and Rinko Kawauchi.
For me, the creative photography is a non-judgmental observation of the visible external world and the hidden inner world of the soul, which I portray, collect and study in the form of photographs. We cannot capture reality completely, at the same time we can study its fragments, dive into the details, and get the necessary experience, that's why I use close-up. My pictures are always a compromise between the earthly and the understandable, as well as existential and mysterious, they convey the ghostly beauty of a more subtle world, which we do not see physically, but we might only feel it through our transcendental filters and channels.
Nature and people are main objects of inspiration and observation. The flowers become silent witnesses of internal dialogues too. All objects find me by chance, usually the understanding of the issue that I need to solve comes later. My experience is interpreted through lines, shapes, colors, and at a certain moment, I get pictures that convey the state of acceptance of life. At this moment, we leave the comparative paradigm of consciousness, reality remains the same, but its perception changes. We seem to be moving into another virtual world of new potential opportunities. The inverted color, like an undeveloped film, hints at this. I have been creating a visual diary of life acceptance in the art process, where each page is a series or project of accepting different complicated feelings.
The main themes I explore are acceptance of life and «new spirituality». We are all one in our interactions with each other and with nature, only egos, beliefs and fears separate us. I focus on the intersections between reality, feelings, and consciousness, in which there are no dividing lines. So, pushing the boundaries of photography that document reality I add another dimension of sensual worldview of unity.
Even though my pictures convey acceptance as a form of respect for life, they appear because of my mental struggle, and they are «spiritual self-portraits». However, the act of self-knowledge is not as important as the moment when the viewer finds a part of themself in my photos. I would like that both processes of creativity and contemplation are a unification of different people through a common "feeling of the moment".
Education
1997-2005 - National Academy of Tax Service of Ukraine, Irpin, Ukraine
2006 - New York Institute of English and Business, New York, USA
2016-2020 - Kyiv Photography School, Kyiv, Ukraine
Group exhibitions:
2020 - Kyiv Photography School Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine
2020 - "New Generation", Nu Art Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine
2020 - Photo Kyiv Fair 2020 online, Kyiv Photography School Gallery
2021 - FRESHEYES TALENT 2021, Rotterdam Photobook Market, Netherlands
2021 - "Philosophy of minimalizm", Kyivphotos-Hall, Kyiv, Ukraine
2022 - Fine-art photography exhibition, MODI Art&Wine Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine
2022 - NFT-collection of Ukrainian Women Photography Organization (UWPO), Opensea
2023 - "Imagination Game", the experimental photography exhibition, Kyivphotos-Нall, Kyiv, Ukraine
Photo contests:
2020 - Kyiv Photography School Award, Honorable mention
2020 - Tokyo International Foto Awards (TIFA), Honorable mention
2021 - Fine Art Photography Awards (FAPA), Honorable mention
2021 - Px3 PRIX DE LA PHOTOGRAPHIE PARIS, Honorable mentions
2022 - LensCulture Summer Open Competition, Editors' Picks
2022 - LensCulture Art Photography Award, Editors' Picks
2023 - International Photography Award (IPA), Honorable mention
2023 - LensCulture Art Photography Award, Editors' Picks
2024 - Tokyo International Foto Awards (TIFA), Honorable mention
2024 - PhotoTalk award Form photo academy, Special selection
2024 - World Master of Photography Award 2024 (WMPO) Vienna, Honorable mention
2024 - Px3 PRIX DE LA PHOTOGRAPHIE PARIS, Gold and Bronze Winner, 2nd place in Special Category, Honorable mentions
2024 - International Photography Award (IPA), 1st Place in Professional Nature, Other
Publications:
2021 - ARTDOC Magazine, online-exhibition «Expressive floral»
2021 - M O K O N S H U, Art research platform
2021 - VOGUE Italy, Photovogue
2021 - FRESHEYES TALENT 2021 by GUP magazine, Amsterdam
2022 - "Ukrainian women in photography" by PURPLEHAZE Fashion&Art magazine, Berlin
2024 - 100 CONTEMPORARY UKRAINIAN PHOTOGRAPHERS book by Form Paris publishing
2024 - "Imperfect Poetry" zin by Float Photo Magazine, USA
2024 - Kiosk of Democracy online blogpost