Interview with photographer Yanina Shevchenko

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Interview with photographer Yanina Shevchenko

December 1st, 2015 by fstop

Untitled from Vanishing project

F-Stop Magazine: The “Telling Stories” issue of F-Stop Magazine includes images from your project “Vanishing”, can you tell us about this project? What led to this project?

Yanina Shevchenko: Vanishing is a story of one decaying Belarus village, Gonchanskoe. It is a very personal project, because Gonchanskoe is the birthplace of my mother, and my grandparents still live there.

As a child I used to go visit every year. I saw the village in its most flourishing years. I know the majority of people who still live there.When I went back to Belarus 3 years ago, it stroke me how different the village looks now. Vanishing is the outcome of my desperate urge to preserve the incredible beauty of this place and its history, at least in photographs, for future generations.

F-Stop: Can you discuss your process for making these images or your creative process more generally?

YS: I have done this project during my two recent visits to Belarus. Vanishing, in a sense, is a story of my family, so working on this project was a special experience. It made me closer to my roots and made me learn a lot about my grandparents, who have built this village when they were very young, and lived there ever since.

My grandfather helped me to make the project; he told me the story of the village. He was sent here to lead the construction of the village in 1955 – he knows Gonchanskoe more than anyone else.

He also took me from house to house, where I explained my idea, talked to other people, and took photographs. It is very important for me that people I photograph understand the purpose and agree to be part of my projects.

Untitled from Vanishing project

F-Stop: How do you choose what or who to photograph, what are you looking to capture?

YS: Majority of my projects are personal. There is always a reason I want to explore the theme, or tell a particular story.

F-Stop: What do you hope people see or feel or perhaps learn when they look at your photographs?

YS: For me every art project should be visually engaging, but also carry a deeper message. From this perspective,Vanishing is an example of extinction of rural areas in Eastern European countries in particular. Through it I wanted to raise awareness to this problem, because the decay of the villages will likely to continue without the help from the government, investors, infrastructure or social services.

Untitled from Vanishing project

F-Stop: Do you have a favorite image in this series? If so, which one and why is it the image that speaks to you most?

YS: The image of the man pushing a trolley with a water tank; he’s my grandfather. For me it is one of the main, and also dearest images in the series. If I would have to choose one image to tell the story of Gonchaskoe I think that would be the one.

F-Stop: Are you working on any other projects currently?

YS: I and Canadian photographer Kyler Zeleny have been working on a collaborative project called Georgia Georgia for the past two years. We are now in the final editing stages and planning to complete it before the end of 2015.

As well, I am preparing to start a new project about the history of Volgograd, former Stalingrad. It will be the second part of a trilogy which explores Russia, on which I’ve been working for the last couple of years. The first part of the trilogy, Crossing Over, is a photographic diary of my trip across Russia on the Trans-Siberian Railway. I completed Crossing Over in 2012, and it was published by The Velvet Cell in 2013.

For more of Yanina Shevchenko’s work: yaninashevchenko.com

Location: Online Type: Interview

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