Freedom of Creativity: about Social Flaws, Original Style and Dress Made from Videotapes

May 17, 2018

On May 16, at The National University of Ostroh Academy a student Yevhen Malchyk gave a lecture on the development of creativity, the search for unique style and non-standard ideas, and the beginning of the making of video, animations and collages. Yevhen became interested in photography about 6-7 years ago.

“It all started as an amateurishness; in fact, it ended in the same way. Apparently, it was all improving only because I was interested in it”, comments Yevhen.

The student shared his own understanding of the essence of a true photographer and why shooting birds and flowers is not an indicator of professionalism. “After a while, the stereotype that a real photographer can catch a bird in flight or at once catch some interesting moment for the reportage disappeared. Yes, I used to think in this way too. But that is not so fascinating. It's an ordinary job, “everything is as it should be”. The lecturer said that he always had a desire to radically change the colors in the photo.

He considers two frames from the Internet to be the turning point in his work, which, in the opinion of the lecturer, have contributed to the "collapse of the stereotype". These were the photos of Lady Gaga and Madonna from Vogue magazine. Cardinally modified, intensely computerized and retouched.  

A poster of the event claims "Freedom of Creativity". At the lecture, Yevhen explained what it means for him. “Actually, in this occupation you regulate this limitation of freedom by yourself. You set the limit, which will signal if you cross it that it is not a photo now, it is a collage or an illustration. By engaging in creativity, we can regulate the coefficient of our freedom and of our choice”.

During any photo shoot, Yevhen works not only as a photographer, but also as a designer. He makes up outfits, accessories and other stuffs, works with decorations. One dress for some series of works was made from ribbons taken from a video cassette, and one mask was extended with ordinary forks. In order to make the dress he took 80 cassettes. He actively uses second-hand clothes or interesting vintage things that literally have been saved from the possibility of getting into the garbage dump.

Yevhen's works must have some spirit. Sometimes the idea of photo session is delivered in one photo, occasionally the whole series is a reflection of human vices or it carries a certain message, asking people to think about current issues and review their own priorities. For example, the idea of shooting "Snovydy " is interesting, as well as a video message that tells about the behavior of a considerable number of people during celebrations or about the killing of animals for fur and leather handbags. All these little attractive moments of our life are metaphorically embodied in the work of Yevhen Malchyk. People who turned into donuts and drowned in milk, the influence of mass on personality and attempts to destroy originality, long, slender legs as one of the manifestations of imposing the notion of ideality…

“This is, in fact, my idea of life: this industrialization and the development of cities and the reducing of the number of areas where animals can fully exist,” emphasizes Yevhen. This idea is embodied, in particular, in one of the works of the photographer, which depicts people who eat cherries, and in the background an offended hedgehog moves on the horizon. On the next Yevhen’s collage a war for food is shown.

During the lecture, the photographer demonstrated his own photos, collages, animations and videos, opening the veil over what was actually a finished image, showing the originals, sharing small life-hacks, and on every occasion proved that a true photographer has an original, recognizable style, unusual and somewhat weird locations and interesting ideas.