Artur Byzenko

This project is a visual photographic study of my everyday life through the reproduction of it on film. A series of photographs formed from 2018 to 2024, during the period of residence between two cities, Lviv and Kyiv.

These photos tell the story of city life, native or long-forgotten streets, remote areas of a big city, everyday life of an average Ukrainian, youth and old age, sadness and joy, friends and acquaintances, rented apartments, noisy rock parties, meditative walks alone in search of composition, form, light, emotions and a moment that will be etched in history for a long time.

"Move" is spontaneity, randomness, chaos, where form and order are born, because often, when I go somewhere, I can never know exactly which shot is waiting for me. That is why my heart belongs to photography, reality in the frame, without exaggerations and filters.

This series started after the beginning of the war in Ukraine. Since there is a war in our country, I can't now do my favorite thing freely, as it was before. The war greatly changed the attitude towards people with cameras, and this should not be surprising, there is a full-scale war in the country

Therefore, after the first months of the war, after moving from Kyiv, after losing my main job and not understanding what to do next, I decided to start experimenting with my analog photo archive at home. I used film taken several years ago and spoiled it with various solvents, cuts, fire, wax, glue, salt, wool, chlorine and manual impact to the film, using such methods, I worked with an abstract image, sometimes completely radically changing the initial image on the negative.

This way of creative act fully reflects my inner state at that time, my mood, anxiety, panic, powerlessness, anger, suffering, fear, uncertainty about the future, pain for my country and the fate of our people. Working on this series turned out for me to be an abstract diary of my feelings, a kind of reflection, art therapy that helped me fight with my negative mood, keep my sanity, strength for a normal, fulfilling life, not to fall into depression, just do what I love.

This work is an exploration of my inner state, a way to reflect my life, thoughts and feelings. My photos show the obstacles, choices and transformations I go through. The images form the palette of the author's emotions and are aimed at the viewer's reflection through experiences, each image reflects a certain moment or emotion that arises in me at a certain time, the black and white film allows you to focus on details and textures that add depth to the story. It inspires me to think about nature, the world, relationships, war, about my life path and connection with nature and society. Everything that we live, accumulate, feel can be put into an image. Filling these images with content and emotions depends on us.

When data saturates our consciousness, echoing from every device when millions of people mindlessly consume tons of unnecessary information day by day, there is a significant likelihood of straying from the right path, losing one's identity in the eternal stream of unnecessary information, propaganda, news, topics, and ideas.

This project is a reflection of the modern information space in which I find myself. Escaping from this reality, and seeking refuge, I began creating chaotic black-and-white abstractions on film negatives that I associate with the wild data noise around me and inside me. Every day, you hear more news, both terrifying and joyful, and witness new deaths, new defeats, and victories. A significant portion of my time is filled with war news that echoes from the television, from internet portals, from my friends and acquaintances, from family and loved ones. Our entire society is now united by one topic and we all live in a constant expectancy to hear one phrase: "The war is over."

Currently, the whole world may be standing on the threshold of great changes.

After living in Kyiv for many years, I returned to my hometown of Lviv, and to a large extent, the war provoked this move. Many of my friends, acquaintances, and close people remained in the capital. At the same time, some of them even moved to Europe in search of a better life. In Lviv, I realized that most of my free time I spent alone in my studio, which became my shelter and a companion to my introverted nature. I missed live communication with my friends, some of whom I maintain close relationships with. I think about them, reminisce about our shared experiences, discuss topics that concern us, and support each other.

I involved some of my friends in an artistic collaboration to strengthen our connection. I was curious about their lives, what they felt during these difficult times, and how they could convey their emotional state through photography. I sent them my Canon film camera loaded with black and white film for a specific period of time and asked them to photograph, to capture beauty without complexes or fear of making mistakes, to convey their emotional state, the state of their loved ones, their feelings and what surrounds them, I simply asked them to take pictures the way they feel.

I wanted to encourage them to engage more actively in photography and was interested in interacting with them through this practice. It turned into a kind of visual correspondence. I interpreted all the developed films through my artistic methods, vision, and emotions, improvising with materials and imagery, using manual and digital processing. There is a lot about my personal inner state at that time. It's about art in a warring country, anxious experiences, distracting from negativity, love and trust, openness, support, and long-distance friendship, which this practice has brought even closer and strengthened.