About the Works

After the Revolution of Dignity and Russia's occupation of Ukrainian territories in 2014, it seemed that Ukraine suddenly appeared on the map of Europe. One thing that began to bother me personally, as a Ukrainian and a visual artist, was the «exoticizing moment» — to paraphrase the terminology of photography presented within the millions of images flowing from the hands of photographers from various countries. Most of these works contained an exploitative nature because Ukraine was «the hot news.«At the same time, it built a particular narrative of what Ukraine is in their eyes. Later this evolved into visual culture and art. «Raw and wild» and «post-soviet chic» became specific trends, which can certainly be called a «Western gaze on Eastern Europe.«Daring&Youth became my reflection on this issue. I use a kind of «raw aesthetics» for its visuality. For two years, I had been photographing young, 20 Ukrainian veterans of the war with Russia, which was then going on in the Donbas. Some of the first volunteers who went to fight on the real front were from the community of football fans. Parallel to this, the de-communization of public space was underway in Ukraine. I observed this process through the symbolism of the abandoned Lenin Palace of Culture in my hometown.

Yulia Krivich