For three years, Yelena Yemchuk captured the city and its unique charm and beauty.
."I've been photographing in Ukraine for so many years. It's part of who I am as an artist," she says."I feel very comfortable there, and the people feel my comfort. I think it's going to be very important for me to go back as soon as possible."
As a child, Yelena never went to Odesa."It was one of those places I've always heard people talking about my parents' friends that were from Odesa were always such characters, and it seemed like such a cool place," she says, describing the new project's earliest genesis."When I finally made it, it was the dream that I imagined. A magical, strange and wild place that, especially nowadays, you don't see — everything has become kind of the same.
Having left Ukraine under Leonid Brezhnev's rule, it wasn't until the 90s that Yelena was able to return, and only in 2003 did she eventually make it to Odesa. A decade later, she went back, overwhelmed with a desire to create work but unsure what to explore. Following Putin's invasion and ultimate annexing of Crimea in 2014, she began hearing about teenagers being invited to join the Odesa Military Academy and decided this would be her next book.
The book is an intimate account of that time, featuring kids in camouflage and women at the beach, families outside colourful motels and close-ups of McDonalds cups."I feel very lucky that I have this ability to communicate with people, where they're willing to share," she says. Yelena made a lot of friends over those four years, and one in particular, Ania, became"a huge part of everything" that she's been doing since."Her face, her everything, is so Odesa.
"My pictures are not sugarcoated," she adds, aware of the potential response."I'm not saying, 'this the best'. They're very true to what is going on there, and how I see it. Sometimes it's very romantic – because I feel very much in love with the way it is. To me, it's the most beautiful thing ever. There's just something there that I love and appreciate, and I just wanted to share, especially right now.
France Dernières Nouvelles, France Actualités
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