Epitome is a visual essay, a deeply personal journey of here and now, but also of there and then. It has grown out of a necessity to find personal peace and balance in a time of turmoil. It became both a meditation and a contemplative search for meaning in the time of modern war.
Consisting of pictures of war-torn places shot in 2022 in Ukraine, the series also includes the ones printed from a vast archive of ten years. Hearing the roaming of air raid sirens, the palm-sized pictures were printed under the red safelight in Bakin’s makeshift darkroom in his Kyiv apartment. The uncertainty, unease, and fragility, but also beauty and tenderness, became the main essence of the series.
«A weathered pile of discarded chairs under the rain, photographed just days before the chaos. It is what it is, but for me, it is a very temporary sculpture dedicated to our time, the symbol of chaos, suspended dreams, plans, and hopes. It somehow holds itself, but will it rather rot to ashes first or just fall apart?»
The project started 2022. Completed 2024.
Winner of ‘The Ones To Watch’ by British Journal of Photography, 2023.
Grant winner, Documenting Ukraine, IVM Institute for Human Sciences, Vienna, 2024.
Selected for Copenhagen Photo Festival 2024.
Winner of the LensCulture art photography awards 2023.
The ‘Epitome’ monograph book will be published by Photo Void in 2024.
Vic Bakin biography
Vic Bakin is a self-educated Ukrainian photographer. Raised in the west of Ukraine, for the last ten years he has been based in Kyiv. In his work, Bakin is focused on documenting Ukraine’s youth. Recently, his focus has also shifted to the themes of war in Ukraine.
His new series Epitome (2022) is the selection of ‘The Ones to Watch’ by the British Journal of Photography and the winner of the LensCulture photography awards.
In 2023, Vic Bakin received a grant from the IWM Institute for Human Sciences, Vienna, and is also a selectee of the Copenhagen Photo Festival 2024. His first monograph book will be published by Photo Void in 2024.