Maxim Dondyuk

Culture of Confrontation, 2013-14, is a series of photos that document a turning point in Ukrainian history: the Euromaidan revolt. The title refers to a confrontation between two different approaches: one filled with nostalgia for the Soviet Union, the other craving for an independent European country. In this encounter, two cultures, or rather two worldviews, collided in the same territory. This confrontation is eternal. It transcends Ukraine, and it definitely transcends that city square where the revolution took place when the former President of Ukraine decided to suspend the integration deal with the European Union.

A protest supposed to be over in a day turned into three months of bloody clashes, tears, Molotov cocktails, burning car tires, and deaths. Maxim Dondyuk was an active participant in these events, shooting pictures of a revolution that turned into a performance, with scenes of carnage interweaving with incredible beauty. Borders between reality and fiction blurred, and everything turned abstract, timeless, a universal conflict between light and darkness. In the black smoke and white snow of February a fight between good and evil went on, though it was often impossible to tell which side was which.

A selection of six photos is presented here printed on banners like those carried by protesters.

War devastates everything. It cripples human souls and bodies, destroys buildings, and harms nature. All that is left is destruction, pain, and suffering. It puts an unforgettable footprint on everything it touches.

On February 24, 2022, Ukraine woke up to bombing, shelling, and air raid alerts. Russia started a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Dozens of cities and villages have been destroyed, thousands of people have been killed, and millions have fled.

For nearly a decade, Dondyuk has documented many aspects of the confrontation between Russia and Ukraine, photographing the conflict from both sides – the Ukrainian Revolution, the annexation of Crimea, and the beginning of the war in the east of Ukraine. What we are witnessing today is a battle for freedom and democracy, the outcome of which is immensely important not just for the people of Ukraine, but also for a united Europe and the whole civilised world. Dondyuk can’t stay apart from such an important historical period for the country, so he continues chronicling Ukraine in its period of self-affirmation as an independent country, concentrating on the aftermath and the outcome of this battle between Soviet and European values. A selection of pictures taken on the front are presented here on slabs of marble.

Between Life and Death, 2017, is a reflection on the wars in which humankind has been mired. These photographs portray the territories of Eastern Ukraine devastated by the war. In the winter of 2017, Dondyuk revisited the places that he had documented in the armed conflict in Donbas in 2014, following the route along the border with the self-proclaimed Luhansk and Donetsk Republics. These areas, which had recently witnessed bloody clashes, now stood abandoned in absolute silence. Schools, hospitals, factories, checkpoints – all of them were of high importance during the clashes. Now they all looked like deserted monuments of war.

This story is about the scars that wars leave in human souls. It is about emptiness and loneliness. Wars change everyone and everything. Soldiers returning from war are often forgotten by their state and misunderstood by their families and friends. The civil population, who faced the war, faced psychological traumas that remain for the rest of their lives. They had to live along with their fear, anger, and pain. Dondyuk endured war too, and through his photos he wants to convey feeling more deeply rather than showing war’s frightening face. Sometimes memories from the past are more painful for survivors than the battles themselves. These feelings won’t leave; they will stay with them forever.

Maxim Dondyuk (1983, Slavuta, Ukraine) lives and works in Lviv. He is a visual artist working in the field of documentary photography, whose practice integrates multiple mediums including photography, video, text, and archival material. Maxim’s works explore issues relating to history, memory, conflicts, and their consequences. His work was exhibited at, among others, Musée d’Art Moderne, Paris, France; Somerset House, London, UK; MAXXI, Rome, Italy; Biennale of Photography, Bogota, Colombia. His works are in the collections of National Museum of Photography, Bogota; Benaki Museum, Athens; National Museum of The History of Ukraine in WWII, Kyiv, Ukraine. Dondyuk won the W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography International Photographer of the Year in Lucie Awards, and was finalist for Prix Pictet Photography Prize, and for Magnum Photos ‘30 under 30’ for emerging documentary photographers.