Guillaume Herbaut - Ukraine, Terre désirée (2001-2022)

Guillaume Herbaut — Ukraine, Terre désirée (2001-2022)

Exhibition from July 1 to September 17, 2023
Opening on July 1 to September 17, 2023

L’Arsenale
Spaziu Petru Mari
Citatella – Bastiò Nordu, 20200 Bastia, Corse

“Rencontres photographiques Sguardi” as part of the group exhibition “Ukraine, la mort dans l’âme”.

“From Chernobyl to war. Ukraine is a landmark in my photographic career. Through this country, I moved from classic black-and-white photojournalism to documentary photography that recounts the invisible drama of a nuclear disaster.

In 2001, from the very first moment I felt connected to this land.

The colors reminded me of my childhood. People accepted me into their daily lives. I was discovering the contaminated forbidden zone. A parallel world, a different relationship with reality, a questioning of how to photograph the traces of history.

Since then, I’ve visited the country every year. 2004, the Orange Revolution and the Donbass. Then, the return of the Cossacks, symbol of Ukrainian identity. 2008, Crimea and its inter-community tensions. A series of reports, like a jigsaw puzzle preparing me to follow the Maïdan revolution and war in 2014.”

– Guillaume Herbaut

“The history of this country has enabled me to explore different narratives, to break points of reference, and finally to get back into the news and reflect on photojournalism today.

Like the leopard-spotted contamination of Chernobyl, Ukraine was divided into different zones before the Russian invasion: contaminated zones, war zones, but also, at the time, zones of peace, like a mirror of the future of our societies.

From a forgotten war to images of a conflict destabilizing the world and appearing on the front pages of every newspaper, we discover a people rising up and fighting for their freedom. It’s a reason that drives me on.”

– Guillaume Herbaut