Nikoletta Stoyanova 2023 Ian Parry Photojournalism Grant
Funeral of 20 years old soldier
War in this city starts in 2014
A resident of Bakhmut, under the shelling of the city in minus 10, walking in sunglasses.
Double shelling in Antonivka
10 kilometers from Donetsk
Helicopter
Morning and moaning in Kherson
Sunny day in Kherson
Cherry blossoms in the destroyed city
What does a Ukrainian's morning look like when there are Russians in the world?
The body of a tank with the heart of a helicopter
Evacuation Red Cross
About the work
During was the fall of 2021, I officially started working for the main broadcasting company “Suspilne” as a photojournalist in the Odesa region. And 4 months later, a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine began. I could not leave Ukraine, I had to stay and document everything that was happening in Odessa. After six months, I realized that I was interested in the front line, but due to ageism and sexism, the editors-in-chief did not give me the opportunity to embody myself as a photojournalist. They said: “I don't want the soldiers in the trenches to think not about how to fight, but about how to save your life”, “bring written permission from your parents, that they're let you go to Donbas” etc. That's why I resigned from my post as a photojournalist and started fixing (production of work in war zones for foreign journalists).
In almost a year of work, fixering became the best school of reporting. Because of working with experienced journalists, photographers and videographers, you learn how to be like them. You learn to search for topics, contacts, people, places. You organize all the work, start writing texts, and then do the pictures. At some point you realize that you know how to work as an independent photojournalist, how it works.
I cooperated for a long time with the main Polish TVP and Italian RAI television. Journalists allowed me, while working with them as a producer, to take pictures for myself. Over time, I realized that it is necessary to publish them. So I started selling my images to EPA photo agency and became a photojournalist for Donbas frontliner.
My small achievement was that my photos started to sell. I realized that I was worth something when I saw that the New York Times took my photos. It inspires to develop and develop further.
Because the one who is confident and works hard, the one who does not give up – itʼs invincible.
As my portfolio shows, I have created an intimate work that shows the feeling being abandoned from the elderly perspective. During the project I realised that it is not only the old that are left behind, it’s the young too. Teenagers are left without their parents, and struggling to grow up in the rural areas, often forced to mature too soon with little positive prospects. To tell this story, I want to focus on my cousin Monica, and visualise her daily life. Through her and her story, I am going to explore the phenomenon of abandonment of a young generation.
About the Photographer
Photography has been with me all my life. As long as I can remember: photo albums with photos of my grandmother, Polaroid of my mother, black and white photos of my great-grandfather. It all grew with me. The older I got, the more interesting photography became for me. At the age of 15, I bought my first camera and it became my hobby. at the age of 17, I entered the university at the faculty of journalism, where they began to teach me photojournalism. Since then, I understood what I wanted to do. Taking into account the fact that we had a war in Donetsk region, and my entire childhood was spent there, before the beginning of the occupation of the eastern territories of Ukraine by Russia... This understanding of what's going on was waked me up.
One of the main motivations for doing what I do is to return to the place of my best childhood memories. To the place where my great-grandfather was born, who taught my grandmother photography. She taught my mother, and my mother taught me. My roots are in occupation, my mind is in war, but my heart longs for peace and love.
Also, as a girl, I want to show the world that age and gender don't matter if you do what you do. The main thing is to do one's work well, qualitatively, and foremost to be humane, kind, and compassionate.