Kharkiv: Capital of Alternative Photography

In 1960s Soviet Ukraine, the population lives under KGB surveillance and Soviet propaganda. But a small group of young photographers in the second city of Kharkiv stand up for artistic freedom and risk Soviet censors to create a new photographic language.

As Gorbachev’s reforms promised more freedom, a new generation of photographers in Kharkiv documented the final years of the USSR.

As the USSR collapses and Ukraine gains independence there is hope and confusion as the old world melts away. In the economic crisis of the 1990s life is hard for artists and photographers in Kharkiv.

During unstable times, the photographers and artists of Kharkiv want to provoke society and denounce the corruption of post-soviet Ukraine. But whilst fighting for democracy, war comes to the Donbas region.

Faced with the tragedy and hardships of war, the Kharkiv School are torn between the need to find shelter from the fighting and document the war.