![]() ![]() ![]() Speaking recently by phone, Varvara, a young woman whom Peckmezian met in Kyiv, was in tears from the beginning of the call to the end. ![]() When Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24th, launching a vicious war that has already killed thousands of Ukrainians and driven nearly three million from the country, Peckmezian’s portraits became documents of a past suddenly lost, of youth ruptured by violence and grief. In many of the photos, the candy-colored nineteenth-century buildings and carnival attractions in Kyiv’s Podil neighborhood make a background as vibrant as the faces on display. Ukrainians have an incredibly dry affect and a hard sense of humor, and speak with bracing directness.” His portraits from Ukraine, taken in Kyiv and Odesa in 20, capture the gamut of youthful emotions: exhilaration and anxiety, self-confidence and self-doubt, raucous friendliness and moody introspection. “On top of this, I found the temperament of the people I met there hilarious and refreshing. “For a portrait photographer, Ukraine is rich, because you find a lot of strong faces and great style,” Peckmezian, a native of Toronto, told me recently. He published the series last year, in a book titled “ Nice.” But there was one country that he found himself drawn back to repeatedly. Between 20, the Berlin-based photographer Mark Peckmezian made portraits of young people whom he met on the street during travels across Europe and beyond. ![]()
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