Artwork information

Project
Lilies
Name
Untitled
Year
1999
Dimensions
60x60 cm
Provenance
The photographer's private archive
Catalog number
CHEA-182(1999)
Inscription

On the verso side: inscription ” ‘Lilies’, Ovruch, Ukraine, 1999 Alexander Chekemev, edition 1/5 + 1 AP” and the artist’s signature

About the artist

Alexander Chekmenev (b. 1969, Luhansk) is a Ukrainian photographer. He got interested in photography at the school, where he attended a photo studio. Chekmenev started earning a living at the local atelier in 1988. After completing compulsory military service, he was hired as a photographer in the complex of art and industrial services. In 1997, he moved to Kyiv, where he resides today and works for various media.

A large part of his body of work is a unique archive of Ukraine’s life (especially its eastern regions) between the 1990s and 2000s. Chekmenev captures the roughness of the social and political situation of the decade in the manner of straight-out documentality, combined with sincere interest in the stories of people who are posing for him (projects Street People, 1994-1999, Ambulance, 1994-1995, Passport, 1995, etc).

The photographer continues his observations in the series reflecting on the recent events in the country (Euromaidan, 2014, War–Torn, 2014-2015; War in Donbass, 2014-2016; Deleted, 2018-2020; Citizens of Kyiv, 2022). Member of the UPHA – Ukrainian Photographic Alternative Union.

Chekmenev’s work is part of private and public collections, namely “Mystetskyi Arsenal” National Cultural and Art and Museum Complex, Kyiv, Museum of the Kharkiv School of Photography, Kharkiv, Ukraine, Märkisches Museum Witten and Ludwig Museum, Germany, Pompidou Center, Paris, France, and Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Author of Donbas (2011), Passport (2017), Lilies (2020) and Pharmakon /Ambulance (2021) photo books.

Solo exhibitions

2000 – Poprad, Slovakia (series  Passport, Lilies)

2001 – Zamek gallery, Poznan, Poland (series  Easter, Passport, Lilies, Blind, Portraits, Miners)

2007 – “Чорно-біла фотогарфія / Black and White Photography”, “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 Black and White Luhansk, 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) (series Donbas)

2019 – “Видалені / Deleted”, Ukrainian House, Kyiv, Ukraine

2019 – “Фото на паспорт / Passport Photos”, Kyiv History Museum, Kyiv, Ukraine

2020 – “Pamiršta žemė / Forgotten Land”, Klaipeda CCC, Klaipeda, Lithuania (curator  –  Darius Vaičekauskas, co-curator  –  Sergiy Lebedynskyy) (series Donbas, Black and White Luhansk, Passport, Lilies)

2022 – “Faces of War” (together with Oksana Parafeniuk), Hoogsteder Museum Foundation, Hague, Netherlands (curator – Carole Glauser Pidoux)

2022 – “Citizens of Kyiv”, Rencontres d’Arles, Arles, France

2022 – Blue Sky Gallery, Portland, USA (series Citizens of Kyiv)

2022 – “Alexander Chekmenev: Testimone–Volti dell’Ucraina”, Church of Santa Maria Ausiliatrice, Venice, Italy (series Donbass, Lilies, Citizens of Kyiv)

2023 – “Občané Kyjeva / Citizens of Kyiv”, Artinbox Gallery, Prague, Czechia (curator – Helena Staub)

2023 – Cityhall of Pullach i. Isartal, Germany (series Donbas, Passport, Citizens of Kyiv, Deleted)

2023 – “Faces of War”, Bibliothèque universitaire Droit et Lettres, Saint-Martin-d’Hères, la Haute Ecole pédagogique Vaud, Lausanne, France (curators –Alexandra Kaourova, Barbara Fournier) (series Citizens of Kyiv)

2023 – “Citizens of Kyiv”, De Studio, Antwerpen, Belgium

 

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 Warriors)

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)

2021 – “Чутливість / Sensitivity”, “Mystetskyi Arsenal” National Cultural and Art and Museum Complex, Kyiv, Ukraine, (curators – Maksym Gorbatskyi, Solomia Savchuk, Oleksandr Soloviov)

2022 – “Focus Ukraine”, Kunstsammlungen & Museen Augsburg, Augsburg, Germany

2022 – “The New Abnormal”, PHOXXI, Hamburg, Germany (curators –  Kateryna Radchenko and Ingo Taubhorn) (series Citizens of Kyiv)

2022 – “Ukraine. The Pass to Freedom”, Noorderlicht Photography Foundation, Groningen, Netherlands (curators – Kateryna Radchenko, Wim Melis) (series Passport)

2023 – “Faces of Europe (Visage(s) d’Europe”, Paris, France (series Citizens of Kyiv)

2023 – “Home”, Liverpool, UK (curators – Viktoria Bavykina, Max Gorbatskyi) (series Citizens of Kyiv, Passport

2024 – “Generations of Resilience”, Hangar, Brussels, France (series Citizens of Kyiv)

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

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