Photographers Archives - See Kyiv

Raves, Plastic Flowers and Flea Markets: Snapshots of Kyiv by Czech Documentarist Hannah Saleh

Olena Lysenko — Thu, 25 Jun 2020 07:08:11 +0000

Raves, Plastic Flowers and Flea Markets: Snapshots of Kyiv by Czech Documentarist Hannah Saleh

June 26, 2020

By Olena Lysenko, all photos by Hannah Saleh

Czech documentarist Hannah Saleh took a trip to Kyiv in summer 2017. “Travelling to my destination I wasn’t sure what to expect,” she said. “I absolutely fell in love, not only with Kyiv, but with its young people, the people I observed with my camera, and the rest of the country I had a chance to see on my trip with Ukrainian workers I carpooled with”. Saleh’s grainy, colourful photographs of Kyiv were shot on a 35mm Leica Mini Zoom film camera and captured the last days of summer in the city.

Born in Teplice, a Czech town close to the German border, Hannah Saleh is finishing her studies in Audiovisual Studies at FAMU, a film and television school in Prague. Her earlier photography projects have explored the topic of DIY decorations. In 2019, Saleh launched Adequate stuff, an independent video-platform that unites video art and civil activism. She also produced and co-directed YouTube series Karen Says, a witty, charismatic portrait of Prague-based drag queen performer and actress Just Karen.

NIGHT

“Going out in Kyiv was another intense and joyful experience. A hot, end of summer night with this sort of typical smell in the air. Throwing firecrackers on Zamkova Hill and drinking beers in Podil, surrounded by Euromaidan shields, was a great example of the city’s throbbing nightlife”.

Hannah went to the first edition of Brave! Factory music festival that took place at Kyivmetrobud, a large factory in Solomyanskyi neighborhood. “The rave at Brave! Factory Festival wasn’t at all similar to the parties I’ve been before. Taking place during Independence Day, all the beautiful ravers seemed to dance for their freedom”, she says.

Her photographs captured ravers surrounded by raw, industrial architecture. “Watching them in the midst of the crowd was an absolute blast. The trauma and frustration from previous events brought something that was definitely worth fighting for,” Hannah explains.

DAY

During the day, Hannah visited the Kyiv Crematorium in Baykove Cemetery where she took photographs of plastic flowers. “All my artistic work is based on sustainability and working with objects and materials that I’ve found. Plastic flowers are my favourites. When I came to the cemetery, I was fascinated how they added so much colour to the landscape. I noticed a ditch nearby, where there were plenty of such flowers, partly covered in dirt, which had been carried there by the wind. I decided to “clean” the ditch by collecting the flowers as souvenirs. They have now become part of my art projects, finding their way, for example, into Karen Says”, said Hannah.

The final stop was the giant flea market at Lisova Metro. “The market was another to-good-to-be-true experience. Teased in a VICE documentary about Kyiv’s clubbing scene, the market made it on to my list of must-sees. I bought two full bags of clothes to use, somehow, in the future. Although I haven’t used anything I bought just yet, they’re part of my prop set – the fancier part which I’m very proud of, you know. Looking back, the shopping was too impulsive due to my excitement, but next time, I will know better, with a great hope it will happen sooner rather than later”.

The post Raves, Plastic Flowers and Flea Markets: Snapshots of Kyiv by Czech Documentarist Hannah Saleh appeared first on See Kyiv.

Hidden Worlds: Photos of Kyiv Car Interiors by Dmytro Kataiev

Anastasiia Perun — Wed, 29 Apr 2020 10:16:02 +0000

Hidden Worlds: photos OF KYIV car INTERIORS by Dmytro Kataiev

Dmytro Kataiev’s photographs of car interiors in Kyiv offer a candid look at how for some people a car may be more than just a means of transportation. ‘Hidden Sanctums’ is a story about public and intimate spaces which contain funny, absurd and yet tender interventions. We talked with Dmytro about his project and his perception of the city.

SEE-K: What is your main occupation? Is photography your profession or just a hobby?

D.K.: I started working in IT when I was a fourth-year student. Photography is my hobby that helps me to bring a touch of creativity to my life. It is also a way to learn how to observe and notice more interesting details around.

I’ve always been attracted to photography. My first memories in that sense are connected with my grandfather. I helped him to develop films in the bathroom of our small apartment where we lived with him, my mother and my grandmother. I also remember how I disassembled his Zenit camera and couldn’t assemble it back. Only a couple of years ago did I find a repairman who could do that. The next memory is a plastic point-and-shoot camera, my mom’s present. I was probably in the 5th grade of school. It costed something like 10 or 18 UAH back then and it was one of the best presents I’ve ever got as a child. Sure, my photos of that period were far from expressing an artistic voice or whatsoever. It was more about capturing different moments in a little boy’s life. I remember this excitement of waiting to see the pictures developed.

Then I took a long break from photography till 2012, when my uncle borrowed me his Canon 5D mark II and lots of photo gear for it. It felt like a window to the whole new world. I had no idea how to use this treasure but really enjoyed the photos that came out of it. It was in that period that I enrolled in a photography school. And that’s how it started… I’ve been learning ever since and it feels like it’s only a beginning.

SEE-K: How pictures of the Hidden Sanctums series are made? Is it mobile photography? Do you have favourite spots where you find these cars?

D.K.: The process is simple. I’ve developed the ability to notice these type of cars even from a big distance. It happens when I walk around the city or on my way from work, and I always have my camera in the bag. Sometimes I go to the courtyards and it ‘waits’ for me there. It’s more likely to find them in old neighbourhoods, so I prefer the downtown and Podil areas, where one can find really interesting ‘pieces’.

SEE-K: Do you remember how the first photo from the series was taken and how you realized it could become a broader story?

D.K.: The first photo was taken during one of the courses by Dmytro Bogachuk at Kyiv Photo School. This photo was just laying somewhere for a long time. I liked the colours and the details of that pic but I didn’t know what to do next. Then I made a couple of other photos in a similar vein but it all turned out rather lame. Later Dmytro told me during one of the classes to look for the cars that stand out with their colours or ‘inner world’, and that’s probably the moment when the idea was born. After that it became easy – you just go and shoot.

SEE-K: What these car interiors mean for you? Is it just an interesting or funny visual phenomenon or maybe a pretext to reflect on how we perceive our city and homes, how the personal and the public spaces intervene?

D.K.: I’d been thinking about this idea a lot, trying to sum it up in a few lines. Here what it gave:

It was said “A car is not a luxury, but a means of transportation” but for some people, their old car became more than just a means of transport but an intimate space with its unique interior, relics and atmosphere. The author tried to look inside these hidden sanctuaries which look inconspicuous, so everyone passes by not paying any attention.

So for me, it’s rather a way to have an insight into the inner world of the cars’ owners. It really is an intersection of something very intimate with the public space. When you get in a car, you’re tete-a-tete with yourself or with a person next to you while the only thing that protects you from the outside world is a thin glass. So you’re protected and visible for anyone at the same time. And this thin line is what I find the most interesting.

SEE-K: There is some touch of naive art in this desire to decorate the cars: small icons that are supposed to protect the vehicle and its owner, little curtains on the windows… How do you interpret it? Do these people perceive a car as their second home because they spend so much time inside? Is it an attempt to bring some beauty in their environment?

D.K.: I really like people who try to make the world around themselves better. That’s why I enjoy observing how they try to make their cars cosier. Sometimes the result is harmonious, sometimes rather grotesque. For some people, it just turns into a pantry to stock things that have no place at home.

SEE-K: How would you characterize the owners of these cars? Is it a particular type of Kyiv dweller? Do you usually talk to them?

D.K.: I’ve only spoken with the owners a couple of times when they noticed I was taking pictures of their cars. I just try to be friendly, explain that I work on a project and show them the pictures. Usually, this is enough for a person to calm down. Sometimes they even suggest rearranging things inside in a better way, but I always insist on keeping everything as it is. Authenticity is very important to me.

About 6 months ago I had an idea to add the owners’ portraits and their short bios to the series. But then I decided it is better to leave viewers the freedom to imagine the owner of each interior.

SEE-K: I think your photos fit a broader narrative about Kyiv’s visual identity. It makes me think of other projects in that direction, such as Balcony Chic and Kyiv Bag Digest. Are there any other visual phenomenon you’re attracted to?

D.K.: I think ‘Hidden Sanctums’ is a good example of how in our everyday hustle and bustle we don’t notice other worlds around us. We just pass by and don’t leave ourselves the possibility to notice, let alone to see better or understand something that might be very important for others. I don’t think it is a Kyiv’s local speciality, it’s more of a modern live particularity. This observation is very true for our relations with people, but I guess this is a topic for another conversation or project.

I do have some other ideas for a photo series or project but I am at the stage of research of content and form. I am not ready to share that for a moment. There are so many interesting and beautiful things around us that we consider just mundane.

SEE-K: What’s next? Do you plan to showcase this project somewhere?

D.K.: For over two years, I’ve made around 80 photos. Now I’m in the most difficult stage of selecting the photos and defining how to present them. I haven’t decided on the format yet. I also follow the competition announcements that align with my topic.

The post Hidden Worlds: Photos of Kyiv Car Interiors by Dmytro Kataiev appeared first on See Kyiv.

Kyiv in the 60s and 70s through the lens of Iryna Pap

Olena Lysenko — Sun, 24 Nov 2019 20:05:29 +0000

Kyiv-born artist Iryna Pap was one of the first and most successful female photographers from USSR. She worked for the biggest Soviet newspaper ‘Izvestia’ (News), led the department of photojournalism at the Institute of Journalistic Arts, took pictures of the Soviet elite and high-ranking guests, documented construction of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, was named one of the best female photographers of her epoch, once even got inside a nuclear reactor, and, most importantly, captured the Ukrainian capital. Kyiv of the 60s and 70s through her lens appears vibrant, full of vital energy, monumental, somehow distant and yet surprisingly familiar at the same time.

City landscapes

Everyday life

glorifying the regime

Since Iryna Pop was an official soviet photographer, it’s no surprise that ideological ‘filters’ are applied on her pics: people are overwhelmingly happy, streets are clean, only festive events are shown, the city seems to be somehow too perfect. Sure, that Kyiv of the 60s and 70s doesn’t exist anymore and this lifestyle probably had never actually existed. But still, Iryna Pap’s archive is amazingly precise and profound when it comes to capturing the everyday life of the city inhabitants and raising the curtain of the past. These pictures are a true document of an epoch, which makes them even more valuable.
Those are mostly the photos from Iryna Pap’s personal archive that was accidentally found among the trash in the newspaper editorial office by another Ukrainian photographer Valeriy Myloserdov. Unfortunately, most of the photos she was commissioned to take are lost. Nowadays, the archive is being scanned and the biggest selection of Iryna Pap’s photos are available at the Facebook page, curated by her relatives and friends.

The post Kyiv in the 60s and 70s through the lens of Iryna Pap appeared first on See Kyiv.

Overcoming Gravity with the Ukrainian Artist Paraska Plytka-Horytsvit

Olena Lysenko — Sun, 27 Oct 2019 14:46:17 +0000

Ukrainian Vivian Maier, Homer of the Ukrainian Carpathians, contemporary Fayum painter and a true Renaissance woman – when it comes to the recently rediscovered Ukrainian artist Paraska Plytka-Horytsvit, the definitions are a tricky part. A bright representative of the so-called naive art, she spent her life taking pictures of her village Kryvorivnia and its dwellers, collecting the local folklore, painting icons, fabricating and illustrating books and writing tales about India. Paraska Plytka Horytsvit art is now presented at Mystetsky Arsenal and here’s what you need to know about it.

WHO IS PARASKA PLYTKA-HORYTSVIT?

Paraska Plytka-Horytsvit was born in 1927 in Kryvorivnia village in the Ukrainian Carpathians. She finished only four years of school but knew foreign languages and went to Germany when she was 16. There she became one of the many victims of the forced labour. In the 40s, she joined the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, helping insurgents to get food and clothing, and was later arrested in the age of 18. After 10 years in Soviet camps of Kazakhstan, where she got frostbite in her feet and had to use crutches. After that she returned to her home village and spent the rest of her life there – without a husband, children, family or household, entirely dedicating herself to art.
At first, she had difficult times integrating the society, as people would keep distance with her in order to avoid problems with the Soviet regime. Nevertheless, for almost 30 years, Paraska was an unofficial village photographer and gained the respect of the locals by taking pictures and handing them their portraits.
Paraska spent her life as an ascetic, living off what villagers and visitors brought her. She died in poverty and almost blind. She is buried in Kryvorivnia and her house is now transformed into an improvised museum.

DOCUMENTING LIFE IN THE CARPATHIANS

Much like in the case of Vivian Maier, the American street-photographer who became famous after death, the 4000 photos from Paraska Plytka-Horytsvit were discovered only recently and are now generally acclaimed as an important cultural heritage.

From the 70s till the 90s, Paraska was meticulously documenting her surroundings in Kryvorivnia among the Carpathian Mountains. Her photos feature residents of the village in different ages and their occupations, breathtaking landscapes, popular holidays (especially Easter), daily routines and hundreds of impressive portraits. Two men holding a fox they’ve just caught, a kid hiding behind the corn plants, a postman carrying a bag full of letters, hand-coloured pics of the traditional outfits, a guy showing off his new Levi’s jeans and so many piercing, life-asserting looks in the camera – Paraska’s photos are more than just a mere documentation of reality. Those pictures are somehow full of vital energy, compassion and love that she didn’t lose after decades in prison and everyday hardships. Paraska-artist is present in every photo.

An interesting part of the photo archive are so-called tintamarresque portraits. Paraska built a couple of face-in-hole boards and photo stand-ins with inscriptions ‘Hello from Kryvorivnia’ and ‘Hello from the Carpathians’. It was decorated with flowers and traditional patterns.

Most of her works were lost or damaged by time and moisture due to careless storage – Paraska was keeping her archive under her bad and never exhibited it. Nowadays, an initiative group of the Ukrainian artists and curators has created a digital archive of Paraska’s photos.

A reality of one's own

The rich photographic heritage is complemented by Paraska’s other creations. For instance, she was fascinated by the Carpathian’s nature – magnificent landscapes, misty mountain chains, thick pine trees forests. She left after herself the albums full of Carpathian sceneries depictions and poems. Secondly, Paraska’s literary legacy is comprised of over 40 hand-written, hand-decorated and hand-crafted books. She used the cigarettes’ packs to fabricate book covers in the papercutting technique called Vytynanky.

Moreover, she recorded songs and folk customs of her region, created the vocabulary of the Hutsul dialect and wrote her tales. Her graphic novels depict how Hutsuls fly on elephants and speak to hedgehogs in India. Paraska went far enough and even created her alphabet – a mixture of Georgian writing with Sanskrit motives.

Altogether, her art is an outstanding example of the creative force and integrity. Despite the years of exclusion and ascetic lifestyle, not leaving her tine home village, Ukrainian artist Paraska Plytka-Horytsvit managed to create her fantastic universe, to overcome the gravity and to travel through time and space, thus becoming one of the most powerful cultural symbols of Western Ukraine.

TO GO FURTHER

Paraska Plytka-Horytsvit’s story has recently become an object of a documentary film by Maksym Rudenko. It gives interesting insights about her life and legacy.

Sources: Exhibition ‘Overcoming Gravity’ at Mystetskiy Arsenal, Photo archive of Paraska Plytka-Horytsvit

SEE KYIV is an alternative city guide by locals and documentary web series on culture, art, society and politics, centered around the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv. Check out more articles about Ukrainian artists and exhibition reviews here.

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