Two years ago, scriptwriter and director Ivan Kravchyshyn switched from shooting films to taking photos of Ukrainian women and children dressed in national attire.
The results
of his workhave now been compiled into a calendar, called “Letters to the
Front,” that highlights both the diversity and beauty of Ukraine.
The photos feature
the wives, mothers, and children of Ukrainian soldiers who are serving at the
frontlines of the Russian war in the eastern Ukraine, as well as the widows of
the fallen soldiers.
“These
women are usually left alone with their grief, and while talking with us during
the shoot it helps them emerge from shock,” Kravchyshyn says.
He recalls a
woman from Lviv Oblast who she shot for the calendar in July 2014. At the
moment of the shooting her son, a Ukrainian serviceman, was among the Ukrainian
soldiers who were surrounded by the Russian-separatist forces near Debaltseve in
Donetsk Oblast.
When the woman
came to the shoot she was stooped over with despair.But once she saw herself in
a mirror dressed in Ukrainian national clothing, she started smiling.
“Every
woman dressed in a national costume is a queen,” Kravchyshyn says.
It takes a few months and several thousand
dollars for to Ivan Kravchyshyn to take one picture of a woman dressed in
national attire. (Courtesy)
For the
calendar, Kravchyshyn dresses the children and women in vyshyvankas, traditional
Ukrainian embroidered shirts, of various designs.The women also wear various
national headdress and adornments.
“By
presenting a variety of traditional attire I want to show the whole world, but especially
Ukrainians, how diverse and ancient our national traditions are,” Kravchyshyn
says.
He dresses
his models only in authentic attire and accessories. Some of the vyshyvankas are
150 years old, or more. To find the clothes and accessories, Kravchyshyn visits
ethnographic museums around Ukraine with his wife, who helps him select
clothing and adornments for the photo shoots.
“Recently
we found wonderful Donetsk-style vyshyvankas in the village of Prelesne,
Donetsk Oblast, although during our trip a lot of people tried to convince us
that we wouldn’t find any vyshyvankas in the Donbas,” Kravchyshyn says.
People from
Ukraine and abroad helped the project by donating money and lending national
costumes for the photo shoots.
ALviv
publisher printed the “Letters to the Front” calendar for free, while designer
and stylist DominikaDyka helped dress the models, Kravchyshyn said.
“People were
very helpful,” the photographer said. “A woman from Ternopil didn’t hesitate to lend
us her family jewelry — coral beads with gold ducats worth several thousand
dollars.”
Kravchyshyn now works on his second calendar called “Shchedryk” featuring Ukrainian children whose parents are fighting in the east. The
seven-year-old Anna will present July in the calendar. (Courtesy)
Kravchyshyn is
now working on shootings for a future calendar project called “Shchedryk,”
featuring Ukrainian children whose parents are fighting in the east. It will contain
12 photos of children from several months old to 12 years old, dressed in
national attire and wearing various national symbols. Apart from the calendar, Kravshyhyn
plans to release a short video about “Shchedryk,” a Ukrainian carol known in
the West as “The Carol of the Bells” and a documentary about the production
ofhis calendar.
“Iwantto
put a (virtual)‘bar code’ on ‘Shchedryk’ so that everybody knows that it’sa
Ukrainian song,” he said.
The
“Shchedryk” calendar will be released at the beginning of December.
Kravshyhyn
said he receives lots of feedbackabout his work from people living in Poland,
Germany, Austria, the U.K., the United States and Canada.
“The photos
demonstrate our authenticity and our connectionwith our ancient roots. This is something
people around the worldappreciate,” Kravchyshyn says.
This year
Kravchyshyn plans to visit Jassy, an eastern Romanian city, for a joint
Ukrainian-Romanian project to photograph people wearing their national
costumes. He also plans to photograph people from ethnic minorities dressed in
their national attire forfuture calendars.
One can see more ofKravchyshyn’s work and order
his calendars (Hr 250 ) atwww.lystynafront.com.
