DARIA SVERTILOVA

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 Daria Svertilova exhibits two series: “Temporary homes“ and “Irreversibly altered“ at Petit Paradis.

Daria Svertilova (Odesa, 1996) graduated from École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs of Paris in 2023. Using photography as her main tool, Daria Svertilova aims to create a sincere and subtle portrait of her generation. Her work was exhibited across Europe and in the US and published in M le Monde, The Guardian among others. Daria is a finalist of Palm Photo Prize 2022.
www.dariasvertilova.com

IRREVERSIBLY ALTERED

2022 – ongoing

« I close my eyes and take the journey. My final destination is The Land of Grief and Bliss. Once I get there I go to the places I used to know, walk down the streets, see familiar faces, and speak to people. I hope to find my home the same as I left it but all is touched by an ominous feeling. It’s growing bigger and envelops me, it squeezes my chest. I look around and I don’t recognize anything. I see ruined buildings, mined land, and museums with empty walls; the familiar faces get older and sadder; I see young people who have just begun to live — they wear uniforms and head somewhere “on the East” — will they ever return from there? I see multiple goodbyes on railway stations, fresh graves on the burned land. Two colors are lying above them. I see great resilience and bravery while the world around me is collapsing; I hear sirens and explosions, I run and look for a place to hide. There is one between two walls: I sit there and stare in the darkness and the darkness stares at me. The ominous feeling stifles me, I say to myself “Wake-up and it will end”. I open my eyes and the dream continues. »

TEMPORARY HOMES

2019 – ongoing

« Dormitories are the only type of social housing that exists in Ukraine nowadays. They were constructed during the soviet epoch to host students and to offer the freedom of movement in the vast country it used to be. Since that time, buildings and living conditions haven’t changed that much but Ukraine and its people did. “I photograph dormitories because they represent the co-existence of the soviet heritage and the new pro-European generation. This ambiguity attracts me and it represents the change of mentality in the country which is moving towards globalization.
 In 2014 the world heard about The Revolution of Dignity in Ukraine and since then the western media have been writing about Ukrainian youth. I found that their representations were limited and focused mostly on the context of rave culture, poverty and war. When I started this project I wanted to make a sincere and subtle portrait of the generation born after 2000. Students who live in dormitories are young, smart, and full of hope. They have just left their families and moved into their first independent housing. They stay in their small rooms for only 3 or 4 years, yet they decorate them with a personal touch. All these buildings which look cold and unified from the outside hide diverse rooms that unite soviet interiors and belongings, drawings, and posters of each student. Neither a family house nor a rented flat, dormitories are a kind of cocoon: the place of transition from teenage years to an adult life. »

The exhibitions :

* Petit Paradis, 23 rue des Lices
04 > 21 July, from Wednesday to Sunday, 11h > 13h – 15h > 20h
« Temporary homes » and « Irreversibly Altered » by Daria Svertilova
« Selected images » and « Face 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.

www.petitparadis.org