About the Works

Viktor (1947–2021) and Serhiy Kochetov (born 1972) are father and son, representatives of the Kharkiv School of Photography, who worked in a tandem. When it comes to chronology, the Kochetovs hardly fit into the classic scheme of «three generations», in which the Kharkiv photo community is traditionally seen, starting from the end of the 1960s. Having become interested in photography in the mid-late 1960s, Viktor Kochetov communicated closely with the first generation of photographers from the «Vryemya» group, Yuriy Rupin and Oleksandr Suprun, thanks to whom he later met Borys Mykhaylov. However, Viktor's first personal exhibition took place only in 1983 in the city's House of Scientists, and in general, the most of his works were created in the 80s and 90s, which gives a formal reason to associate him with the second generation — the «Gosprom» group, Serhii Solonsky, Roman Pyatkovka and others.

Viktor and Serhiy were primarily interested in everyday scenes — unpretentious leisure, uneventful city chronicles with fragments of streets and courtyards. A walk with a camera became the most comfortable way for photographers to talk about the «unimportant»: they shooted human types, architectural elements, details of everyday life and other fleeting signs of (post)Soviet life. However, the authors' approach cannot be reduced to non-committed, detached description of everyday life. The artist duo often clearly indicated their presence in the shooting process, because most often their characters look into the camera, and the photographers themselves regularly appear in the frame. They take selfies, pose, fool around, create ironic sketches of family life, city walks and travels.

Oleksandra Osadcha