Three by Three: Guest Artists in Focus
QUESTION 2. Negative space plays a powerful role in your compositions. How do you use emptiness or silence in an image to communicate resilience or inner calm?
ANSWER 2. I am an introvert by nature, so “less is more” is an eloquent way to convey what is important to me visually. Emptiness allows the audience to have space for their own emotions, without being overloaded with visual noise. I think it is pretty important in times when we are inundated with a great quantity of visual and verbal information.
Viktoriya Sorochuk
Photographer
BIO: Originally, I am from Ukraine; however, due to the war, I am currently residing in Poland, specifically in its northern region, the town of Malbork. I am a self-taught photographer; my professional field is not related to art.
**My name internationally should be spelt Victoria, but in Ukraine, it gets transliterated in two different ways: Viktoriya or Viktoriia. I tend to use Viktoriia, but my Facebook has Viktoriya. It’s complicated. For the sake of some kind of cohesion, I will ask you to write my name in this project as Viktoriya Sorochuk so that viewers can easily find me on Facebook if they are interested in doing so.
INSTAGRAM: @viktoriia sorochuk 17
QUESTION 3. You deliberately avoid AI enhancements to preserve authenticity. What does “honest photography” mean to you in a time when digital manipulation is increasingly normalized?
ANSWER 3. Human creativity is a pretty unique feature that differentiates us from all other living creatures. It evolved through all our history; some artists were punished for their creativity, there were those who were not understood by society and were ostracized, and there were a lot of sacrifices put on the altar of creativity. Therefore, it’s a huge mystery to me why, at this point in our development, we are so eager to give up on something that makes us unique and let a computer (no matter how sophisticated) create instead of us. If it’s done purely for the sake of commercialization, then we have stepped on the path of regression. I can justify digital manipulation in cases when some of my fellow photographers create highly philosophical imagery that otherwise would be impossible to create with just a DSLR or mirrorless camera. Their creations combine the best sides of photography and painting. As for me, so far, the most exciting and productive digital manipulation is double exposure. I find this method very interesting, and it gives a big field for creativity. Past it, I am not interested in altering what I see when I take a photo. Otherwise, I won’t be me anymore.
QUESTION 1. Your “BOOK – Ukraine” series pays tribute to memory, loss, and endurance. How has displacement shaped the way you see light, color, and place through the lens?
ANSWER 1. This is a very complicated question because the full-scale war is not something that shook me to the core. To be a Ukrainian of my age (and I am 44) means that you went through the collapse of the soviet union, Ukraine becoming independent, several big protest movements and two big revolutions, annexation of Crimea, russian invasion of the eastern regions of Ukraine and eventually a full-scale war. Therefore, I can’t say that my perception of the world around me changed in February 2022. I just had a period of time when I went completely numb. I looked around me, and I still could see how beautiful the sunrise or the sunset was, but I felt nothing. It took me some time to take my camera and start looking at the world through the viewfinder again. And when I finally did, I decided that I am not interested in any rules anymore. I will photograph the way I find it interesting and not according to some trends or expectations of the art community. So I can say that I became more courageous in my visual expression.
My News Before The War
My News Before The War
My News Before The War
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Artwork may not be reproduced in any form without the artist's express written permission.
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