Moving Voices (Ukrainian artists portraiture project)
Jagoda
What is the project?
Fifteen-odd years ago I travelled around Ukraine taking a series of portraits of Ukrainians that I met, many of them in the area around Kherson where our family has a cottage. Those portraits made it into a book, called ‘Expectations’. Now I am revisiting some of the people I photographed then, but also taking portraits of a new generation of Ukrainians.
This time the idea is to look specifically at the new generation of Ukrainian artists, writers, composers, choreographers, musicians, sculptors, architects and other cultural figures who are voices in today’s cultural landscape in Ukraine, to see what has changed for them, and how they see their practices for the future.
Living portraits that move
In the past, my portraits were taken on film, static portraits, but this time I am making a series of living, moving portraits.
The ‘moving’ portraits are a series of very high resolution still images that are played one after another - a bit like a video, only much higher resolution & quality, that have the feel of a classical portrait that is living and breathing. Click on the example to the left to get a feel for how this looks.
Questions, questions
Here are the answers to a few FAQ’s. If your question is different, then please do reach out and ask:
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I am taking specifically portraits of Ukrainian artists, musicians, sculptors, writers, architects, choreographers, performers, composers, and any other creative people who can be said to be part of today’s Ukrainian culture.
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I’m a photographer based in Scotland, and I’ve been closely connected to Ukraine for over 30 years, with family & many friends there. In the 1990’s I bought our family cottage in Kherson, and in 2013 I published an art monograph about Ukraine, called ‘Expectations’.
My new project returns to some of the themes I began exploring decades ago, revisiting some of the same people, but also looking at how Ukrainian culture is changing, how Ukrainian artists of all types are developing Ukraine’s identity in the new geopolitical context.
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The Purpose
The aim is to see how cultural voices are changing in today’s context, to revisit some of the people whom I photographed and interviewed 15 or 20 years ago and see what has changed (for most people, a lot!) and see how what direction contemporary Ukrainian artists are taking their respective art forms, and why.
At the same time, the project will help to raise awareness for a range of Ukrainian cultural figures, whether already well established or lesser known names.
Where published
The intention is to use the portraits & any accompanying interview in my art project which may appear in exhibition(s), possibly published in magazine(s) and online on art related websites (including my own www.simoncroftsphoto.com!). My previous Expectations project for example was exhibited at the Kunsthal in Rotterdam, published in magazines like The Guardian & The Telegraph, and was published as a book.
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To allow several takes of the moving portrait to be made, with a bit of setup time, it’s a good idea to allow around an hour for the portrait. If you have less time available, I can work with that, but please let me know!
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I’ll be taking the portraits in the UK (principally Scotland and England) but also some in Germany, Poland, and of course during visits to Ukraine.
The ideal is to take each portrait in an interesting interior, preferably that the sitter has some connection to. But I may experiment with taking some outside too.
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Where possible, I’d love to accompany the portrait with some audio where the sitter says a little about their work, what motivates them, anything at all actually that they would like to say. It doesn’t have to be an in-depth interview, but a few words would be great. The idea is to build the viewer’s connection with the subject, and also to give you more of a voice about your own work and views.
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Of course, please let me know and/or encourage them to get in touch with me!
This project is particularly about Ukrainian culture figures, and especially if you know someone who fits that description I would love to hear.
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Apart from giving up some time, the only thing that I ask in return is that you agree that you are happy for me to use the portrait & audio in my project.
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Please do! The best thing is to fill out the contact form here with your question, I’ll get back to you ASAP.
Follow the Project as it develops
There are two great ways to keep up with the project: first I’ll be posting occasional updates in my Journal on this website as I go along. Also, please do give my Instagram a follow, I regularly update there.
Larissa
And if you have any suggestions or leads for me, or would like more details information about the project at all, please don’t hesitate to get in touch!
This project is kindly supported by Creative Scotland
