MAXIM DONDYUK

I was pretty excited when I ran across the work of Maxim Dondyuk. It is interesting, educational and visually stunning. It isn't everyday that photographers combined these ingredients that create both alluring imagery and a document that should be seen by many. I encourage you to check out his other work from his website, link below. Also below you will find the fascinating series, THE CRIMEA SICH, along with his bio and artist statement.

Please visit his website at maximdondyuk.com

Maxim Dondyuk (Ukraine, 1983) is a documentary photographer and visual artist.

He is the recipient of numerous awards: Finalist of the Prix Pictet ‘Disorder’ Photography

Prize, International Photographer of the Year in Lucie Awards, Finalist of the W. Eugene

Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography, Winner of the Ville de Perpignan Remi Ochlik

Award, Magnum Photos competition ‘30 under 30’ for emerging documentary

photographers, Winner of the PDN Photo Annual, etc.

His works were exhibited in solo and group exhibitions around the world: Musée d’Art

Moderne (Paris), Somerset House (London), MAXXI National Museum of XXI Century Arts

(Rome), International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum (Geneva), Visa pour l’Image

(Perpignan), Royal Castle (Warsaw), etc.

Maxim’s works are held in private and museum collections, including the National

Museum of Photography (Colombia), the Benaki Museum (Greece), the National Museum

of The History of Ukraine in World War II (Ukraine).

Maxim’s work was featured in Rolling Stone, TIME, Newsweek, Der Spiegel, STERN,

Polka, 6Mois, Paris Match, Le Monde, PDN, Bloomberg Businessweek, etc.

He also works with international organizations, the International Committee of the Red

Cross (ICRC) and the World Health Organization (WHO), Safe the Children.

THE CRIMEA SICH

CRIMEA SICH is a military training camp for children aged 6 to 16 years old in the

Crimea Mountains. I discovered the camp in 2010. And for 2 years in a row I kept

going back there each summer to complete a photo project about it. The camp itself

captured my attention. My goal was to understand why at such tender age children

needed to be taught how to deal with real weapons in time of peace, who were that

kids and why they were there.

After my first year in the camp, I noticed that the majority of the children are young

cossacks who are trained in their home countries. The trainings in the camp consist of

the early morning exercises, hand-to-hand Kadochnikov system combat, studying

military maneuvers in various terrains, as well as target shooting using real fire arms

and ammunition, and mountain climbing, just to name a few. Former military officers

who have previously participated in the combat operations and took part in actual wars

teach the kids everything they know.

Cossacks are very closely connected with religion from the very old times. Thats why a

significant role at the camp plays instilling the Orthodox Christian values into the kids.

When I asked children and officers who they are and what nationality they are, they

answered that their nationality is Cossack. They don’t have any other nationalities, and

nothing will split them.

The more time I spent there, the more I realized that this story is much deeper than I

thought before, and that it is impossible to tell it only through a photo project. In 2013 I

returned to the camp, this time with my brother, to start shooting the documentary. In a

couple of months the Ukrainian revolution started, after Russia annexed Crimea and

started the war in Donbass (Eastern Ukraine). It turned out that we captured the very

last year of camp's existence in its original form, when children from Ukraine, Russia,

Moldova, Belarus were training there together.

Who are Cossacks: Cossacks are a group of predominantly East Slavic-speaking

people who became known as members of democratic, self-governing, semi-military

communities, predominantly located in Ukraine and in Russia. They played an

important role in the historical and cultural development of both Ukraine and Russia.

What is Sich: It is the administrative and military center for Cossacks. It comes from

the Ukrainian word siktý which means "to chop," or clear a forest for an encampment.

Thus indicates that the first settlements of the Cossacks were placed on the forested

islands.