Taras Bychko. Out of Time. While working on his project, the author travels across the territory of Ukraine and tries to show the viewer a time that seems to have stopped in the 60s, 70s, and 80s. His desire is to show the contrast of human life despite dynamic changes in economy, culture and society. The series reflects the fleeting spirit of the time preserved in Ukraine. Bychko works within the genres of documentary and street photography. His work has been exhibited at the Miami Street Photo Festival (2016, 2017, 2018), Odessa / Batumi Photo days (2017), Leica Street Photo (2018) and many other international and Ukrainian photo competitions.
Andrii Mur. Attention. Air Alarm Off. Excerpt of the photographs made in peaceful Ukraine out of the long term project “Fulfilling Emptiness” put in nowadays context. Places that are empty and filled simultaneously. Only the viewer is aware of what might have happened before and would happen afterwards. In today’s reality where “air alarm” violates our lives daily, people are caught in the moment constantly left with the personal questions like “Where am I now?”, “What do I feel?”, “What to do next?” etc. Mur is a street & documentary photographer from Ukraine based in Tallinn, Estonia. Active member of Ukrainian photography community and winner of multiple worldwide acclaimed awards like MSPF, DFA, ISPA, etc.
Lendav Maaler will also present the photo selections “Sweet Ukraine” and “War in Ukraine” in the form of a projector screening, provided by the festival Odessa Photo Days.
The projects of the authors have been curated by Temuri Khvingia, photo artist and gallerist, and Andrii Mur, Ukrainian street and documentary photographer living in Estonia. The exhibition is prepared in cooperation with the festival Odessa Photo Days (Kateryna Radchenko), the association of Ukrainian street photographers community and with the founder of Untitled magazine (Mikhail Palinchak).
On the Edge Fest will remain open at Lendav Maaler (Kentmanni 4, Tallinn) until October 21, 2022 during the restaurant’s opening hours. In addition, as part of the festival, exhibitions have been opened in OKAPI Gallery, in the Telliskivi Creative City Outdoor Gallery, and on the Baltic Station Art Street. Visiting is for free.
On the Edge Fest is a new long-term project, the content of which is to take a closer look at borderline conflicts in different regions, especially where there has been war or other current social problem. The ambition of the project is to develop it into a thematic and regular festival, which involves various institutions and partners, includes both indoor and urban spaces for a visual display, as well as educational and additional programs.
The pilot phase of the project is an exposition of Ukrainian photo art, which explores the hidden tensions, as well as geopolitical, psychological and self-identical fears both inside of a country itself and in relationship with its neighbors. By describing the decay of the almost surreal periods authors reach the edges – fringe areas and fields of life, which seems to be forgotten by the whole world. This way, they provide us an opportunity to self-reflect, reminding us that freedom and dignity are genuine values of the true society which cares about their own cultural heritage and builds their independent future regardless of the sneaky intentions of aggressors which act under the red veil of common past and present.
The topic was picked in autumn of 2021, yet it became even more relevant with Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022 that has changed our lives. We stand with the Ukrainian people as they fight for their freedom, presenting the works of Ukrainian authors in Estonia is a symbolic as well as an actual statement of support – the exhibition is accompanied by a charity fundraiser, as was also the case at the exhibition on Ukrainian frontline photography in the Okapi Gallery in the spring of 2022.
