Artwork information
- Author
- Alexander Chekmenev
- Project
- Warriors
- Name
- Untitled
- Year
- 2014
- Medium
- archival pigment print
- Dimensions
- 28x21,5 cm
- Catalog number
- CHEA-172(2014)
- Inscription
-
On the verso side: inscription ” MAIDAN, 2014 2/3+ 1 AP A.Chekmenev ” and artist’s signature
- Key words
- elderly woman, Ukrainian flag
About the artist
Untitled
Alexander Chekmenev (1969, Luhansk) — one of the important representatives of contemporary Ukrainian photography. Got interested in it during his school years, visited a photostudio. Started his professional path in 1988 in the local photatelier in Luhansk. After completing military service was hired as a photographer in the complex of art and industrial services. In 1997 moved to Kyiv, where resides today. A large part of his body of work is a unique archive of Ukrainie’s life (especially its Eastern regions) from the 1990s, in all the roughness of social and political situation of the decade. However, Chekmenev is interested not only in the abstract ‘epoch’ — these are its heroes that are important to the author. He portraits them in a straight-out documentality, which is combined with a sincere interest towards the sotries of people, and understanding of their characters and habbits (projects Street people, 1994-1999, Ambilance, 1994-1995, Passport, 1995 etc). Along with that, photographer creates series featuring the current situation in the country, showing recent events and their outcome (Euromaidan, 2014, War–Torn, 2014-2015, War in Donbass, 2014-2016, Deleted, 2018-2020). Member 0f UPHA– Ukrainian Photographic Alternative union. Works are in private and public collections, namely “Mystetskyi Arsenal” (Kyiv, Ukraine) , Märkisches Museum Witten and Ludwig Museum (Germany). Author of Donbass (2011) and Passport (2017), Lilies (2020) and “Pharmakon / Ambulance” (2021) photobooks.
____________
Photo credit— Fabian Weiss.
Solo exhibitions
2000 — Poprad, Slovakia (series Passport, Lilies)
2001 — Zamek gallery, Poznan, Poland (series Easter, Passport, Lilies, Blind, Portraits, Miners)
2007 — “Чорно-біла фотогарфія”, “Yagallery”, Kyiv, Ukraine
2012 — “Joseph Huber Sura/Alexander Chekmenev DONBASS“, Clara Maria Sels gallery, Düsseldorf, Germany (series Donbas)
2014 — “Mad World”, Clara Maria Sels gallery, Düsseldorf, Germany
2015 — Palffy Palace, Bratislava, Slovakia (series Donbas)
2016 — Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, USA (series Donbass and Passport)
2017 — “Passport”, Folia Gallery, Paris, France (series Passport)
2019 — “Transit” (together with Viktor and Sergiy Kochetov), Odesa Photo Days 2019, State Litarature Museum, Odesa, Ukraine (curators — Sergiy Lebedynskyy, Oleksandra Osadcha, Katerinda Radchenko)
2019 — “Видалені”, Ukrainian House, Kyiv, Ukraine
2019 — “Фото на паспорт”, Kyiv History Museum, Kyiv, Ukraine
2020 — “Pamiršta žemė / Forgotten Land”, Klaipeda CCC, Klaipeda, Lithuania (curator — Darius Vaičekauskas, co-curator — Sergiy Lebedynskyy)
Group exhibitions
1994 — 1 lace in Ukrpressphoto contest, “New Names” category, Kyiv, Ukraine
2000 — European competition of documentary photography, Vevey, Switzerland
2008 — “4×4. Ukrainian Contemporary Photography”, House of photography, Vilnius, Lithuania
2010 — “Якщо, Если, If”, Contemporary art museum PERMM, Perm, Russia (curator — Ekaterina Degot) (series Donbas)
2010 — 3rd Festival of documentary photographs, Poznan, Warsaw, Poland (series Donbas)
2012 — First Kyiv Biennial of Contemporary Art “Arsenale-2012”, Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv, Ukraine (series Winners)
2013 — “The look behind | Der Blick dahinter”, Märkischen Museum in Witten, Witten, Germany (series Donbas)
2014 — “I’m Drop in the Ocean – Art of the Ukrainian Revolution”, Vienna Künstlerhaus, Vienna, Austria (series Warriors)
2014 — “LEGACY: Russia, Ukraine, Georgia, & The Caucasus”, Newcastle upon Tyne, Great Britain (series Warriors)
2014 — “Shift: Ukraine in Crisis”, Third Floor Gallery, Cardiff, Great Britain (series Warriors)
2014 — “Євромадйан: власна історія”, 8 bit Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine (curator — Khrystyna Shestak)
2016 — Suwon Photo festival, Suwon, South Korea (series War in Donbas)
2017 — “Дослідницька платформа: Анонімне суспільство”, PinchukArtCentre, Kyiv, Ukraine (curator — Tetiana Kochubinska) (series Passport)
2018 — “Image Singulieres”, Entrepôts Larosa, Set, France (series Passport)
2018 — “Permanent Revolution. Ukrainian art today”, Ludwig Museum, Budapest, Hungary (curators – Alisa Lozhkina, Julia Fabényi, Konstantin Akinsha) (series Passport)
2018 — “Vom Auf- und Abstieg” (разом з Clemens Botho Goldbach, Olaf Metzel), Märkischen Museum in Witten, Witten, Germany (series Donbas)
2018 — “Свій простір”, PinchukArtCentre, Kyiv, Ukraine (curators — Tatiana Kochubinska and Tetiana Zhmurko) (серія Воїни)
2019 — “UPHA Made in Ukraine”, AKT art space, Kyiv, Ukraine (curators — Victoria Bavykina, Maksim Horbatskiy, Yarolsav Solop, art director — Misha Buksha)
2019 — Grenoble Photomonth, La Maison de l’Image, Grenoble, France (series Deleted)
2019 — Suwon Photo festival, Suwon, South Korea (series Euromaidan)
2019 — “Between Fire and Fire: Ukrainian Art Now”, Semperdepot, Vienna, Austria (series Passport)
Бібілографія
4х4: ukrainian and lithuanian contemporary photography. Kyiv: ArtBook Publishing, 2008.
Bowcock, Simon. “Passport to eternity: photographing the forgotten elderly of Ukraine”. The Guardian, December 29, 2016. https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/dec/29/passport-photograph-elderly-ukraine-alexander-chekmenev.
Chekmenev, Alexander. Donbass. Heidelberg: Kerher, 2011.
Chekmenev, Alexander. Lilies. Kharkiv: MOKSOP, 2020.
Chekmenev, Alexander. Passport. Stockport: Dewi Lewis Publishing, 2017.
Chekmenev, Alexander. Pharmakon / Ambulance. Palermo: 89books, 2021.
Estrin, James. “Tangled Identities and Allegiances in Ukraine”. The New York Times, May 15, 2014. https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2014/05/15/tangled-identities-and-allegiances-in-ukraine/.
Merelli, Annalisa. “Photo by Alexander Chekmenev. Incredible images from inside Soviet-era homes”. Quartz, October 18, 2015. https://qz.com/515772/incredible-images-from-inside-1990s-soviet-era-homes/.
Shuster, Simon “Strong Arm of the State: Alexander Chekmenev’s Post-Independence Ukraine Passport Photos”. Time, May 13, 2014. https://time.com/3809299/ukraine-passport-photos/.
Баздирева, Ася [Bazdyrieva, Asia]. “ЧИТАТЬ ДАЛЬШЕ: Александр Чекменев. ДОНБАСС”. ArtUkraine, January 25, 2012. http://artukraine.com.ua/a/chitat-dalshe-aleksandr-chekmenev–donbass/#.Xozau3JS82w.
Зиятдинова, Эмине [Ziyatdynova, Emine]. “По ту сторону отчаяния: Новая выставка Александра Чекменёва”. Brid in Flight, August 22, 2014. https://birdinflight.com/ru/vdohnovenie/opyt/po-tu-storonu-otchayaniya-novaya-vystavka-alexander-chekmenev.html.
Константинова, Катерина [Konstantynova, Katerina]. “ Другая наша Украина. Фотоувеличение. Луганские люмпены обрели комфорт под крышей Павла Гудимова”. Дзеркало тижня, March 21, 2008. https://zn.ua/CULTURE/drugaya_nasha_ukraina_fotouvelichenie__luganskie_lyumpeny_obreli_komfort_pod_kryshey_pavla_gudimova.html.
Константинова, Катерина [Konstantynova, Katerina]. “Донбас — це різні люди, яким є що втрачати… Їм достатньо однієї іскри”. Дзеркало тижня, May 22, 2014. https://dt.ua/CULTURE/donbas-ce-rizni-lyudi-yakim-ye-scho-vtrachati-yim-dostatno-odniyeyi-iskri-_.html.
Манукян, Юлия [Manukian, Yulia]. “По следам Odesa Photo Days 2019: Александр Чекменев как образец самореференции”. Пространство, 2019. https://www.prostranstvo.media/po-sledam-odesa-photo-days-2019-aleksandr-chekmenev-kak-obrazec-samoreferencii/.
Населенко, Саша [Naselenko, Sasha]. “Фотограф Олександр Чекменьов: «Як той, хто знімає, я бачу людину і несправедливість”. Opinion, April 23, 2019. https://opinionua.com/2019/04/23/fotograf-oleksandr-chekmenov-yak-toj-xto-znimaye-ya-bachu-lyudinu-i-nespravedlivist-2/.
Олександр Чекменьов [Alexander Chekmenev]. Чорно-біла фотографія. Kyiv: ArtBook Publishing, 2008.
Савченко, Оксана [Savchenko, Oksana]. “Своя коногонка”. Фокус, 2015. https://focus.ua/long/341515.
Сафонов, Евгений [Safonov Yevgeniy]. “Александр Чекменёв: ‘Мне интересно собирать осколки прошлого’ ”. Brid in Flight, September 9, 2015. https://birdinflight.com/ru/vdohnovenie/opyt/aleksandr-chekmenyov-mne-interesno-sobirat-oskolki-proshlogo.html.
Ушинана, Татьяна [Ushina, Tatiana]. “Фотограф Александр Чекменёв: На Востоке все говорят, что это странная война”. Insider, September 8, 2014. http://www.theinsider.ua/art/540d7b33eae7c/.
Шебетко, Антон [Shebetko, Anton]. “Почему новая книга Александра Чекменева должна стать настольной для каждого украинца”. Brid in Flight, December 28, 2016. https://birdinflight.com/ru/vdohnovenie/opyt/20161227-snyat-ukrainu-fotografii-na-pasport-v-novoj-knige-aleksandra-chekmeneva.html
Projects
Artworks
