Alexander Chekmenev

The From Inside exhibition project presents the work of four Ukrainian photographers – Alexander Chekmenev, Pavlo Dorohoi, Igor Efimov and Daria Svertilova – as part of the Pavilion of the Future Ukraine 2024. To be discovered at Petit Paradis, Hôtel de Ville d’Avignon and the Manufacture garden. Free admission.

Ukrainian photographer Alexander Chekmenev exhibits his “Citizens of Kyiv” series in the Manufacture garden at 2 rue des Ecoles.

Alexander Chekmenev (UA, 1969) is one of the iconic figures in Ukrainian contemporary photography. Since 1997, he has lived and worked in Kyiv as a photojournalist for various medias. In December 2022, he created the portrait of President Volodymyr Zelensky for the cover of TIME Magazine.

CITIZENS OF KYIV
Almost every discussion of Chekmenev’s photography revolves around two key themes: ‘empathy’ and ‘memory’. The Citizens of Kyiv series was launched as part of a commission for The New York Times magazine, but quickly outgrew this framework. The primary objective was to photograph the people who had remained in Kyiv under attack during the first month of the invasion. The series now includes over a hundred images telling the stories of those who remained in the towns and villages of the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions. Alexander Chekmenev remembers that the city was literally empty and finding protagonists for the series was extremely complicated, so he had to use his network to get in touch with people. Each person has been photographed in a place of personal significance. The images are inseparable from the stories that accompany them, with each composition accompanied by a caption written by C.J. Chivers, reporter and correspondent for the New York Times. The captions present stories not of victimisation, but of resistance and horizontal cooperation. Citizens of Kyiv is a project about people with an uncertain future, created by a photographer who is himself both subject to and witness to the war, choosing to remain in Kyiv.

www.alexanderchekmenev.com

The exhibitions :

* Petit Paradis, 23 rue des Lices

04 > 21 July
Wednesday to Sunday, 11h > 13h – 15h > 20h

« Temporary homes » & « Irreversibly Altered » by Daria Svertilova

« Selected images » & « Faces of memory » by Igor Efimov

* Garden of La Manufacture, 2 rue des Écoles

04 > 21 juillet (break on 10 & 17.07)

Monday to Sunday, 9h30 > 23h

« Citizens of Kyiv » by Alexander Chekmenev

* Hall of the Hôtel de Ville, Place de l’Horloge

08 > 21 July, Monday to Friday, 8h30 > 16h30

« The subway as shelter » by Pavlo Dorohoi

The Pavilion of the Future project is implemented by La Manufacture, NGO Cultural Diplomacy Foundation and Ukrainian Institute with support of IZOLYATSIA foundation, Trans Europe Halles and Malý Berlín and co-financed by the ZMINA: Rebuilding program, created with the support of the European Union under a dedicated call for proposals to support Ukrainian displaced people and the Ukrainian Cultural and Creative Sectors.

The exhibitions are organized in partnership with La Manufacture, Petit Paradis, Odesa Photo Days, Hangar-Brussels, Hôtel de ville d’Avignon.