Artist
Vic Bakin
Vic Bakin (b. 1984) is a self-educated Ukrainian photographer. In Kyiv, the artist explores various local groups – queer and fashion scenes, rave and music culture, and even closed communities like student dormitories. In light of new and evolving local circumstances, Bakin’s focus has since shifted to the subject of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. His diaristic personal projects use of analogue photography to probe at questions of identity; with Void, Bakin is currently working on his debut photobook.
Epitome
For as long as I can remember, I’ve always tried to grasp at fleeting moments in time – be it in capturing a portrait of a friend, or photographing somebody I'd seen for the first time. It’s as if I thought that capturing these moments would somehow quell the initial impulse; it never did. I’m always looking for mysterious, mundane moments that speak to human nature. Those are what form my personal diary.
For me, photography is a process of discovery. Each shot leads to the next. I’m constantly looking for beauty, and for a presence when I shoot. Sometimes a miracle happens: you cross a certain membrane – and something suddenly opens up. I learnt that I need to bare my doubts and accept them, to be vulnerable and honest too. I often capture nudity in my work. Meanwhile, I always look for humanity. This is my soul constitution. I don’t think I could enter into the territory of objectification and vulgarity – even if I wanted to. However unconventional, I’ve never considered my work in terms of different series or projects. Instead, I see my images as similar currents of one big flow, their intermingled narratives evolving in different directions.
Ania Vouloudi is a photographer, video artist and poet currently living in Thessaloniki, Greece. In her art, she uses analogue mediums, findings and chronicles of her life to create docufiction stories. Ania ́s photographs deal with apparent banality and daily routine. Having a low-fi and unpretentiousness approach that captivates us. Ania has experimented a lot with zine making, which we highly appreciate in her practice.
Elena Helfrecht is a German visual artist based in Bavaria. Having a dark and eerie aesthetic, Elena navigates universes that we consider in resonance with Void’s practices: the threshold of fiction and reality, the exploration of existentialism through mortality, trauma, memory and post-memory.
Eva Vei is a Greek visual artist whose work mainly revolves around the notion of communication and intimacy within everyday human interaction. She is interested in exploring issues of identity, belonging and human connections in modern societies while challenging the boundaries of the photographic medium. Void believes that her work, yet still unpublished, perfectly suits the book form, due to her ability in creating non-linear visual narratives, and her search for new methodologies of documentary photography and storytelling.
Maria Siorba is a Greek visual artist based in Athens, with an educational background in Communication, Graphic design and Fine Arts. Her subtle approach to
intimacy and human emotions is what sparked Void’s curiosity about Siorba’s work. Probably one of the most important contemporary subjects, “empathy” is a highlight of Siorba’s artistic exploration. Communicating, and miscommunicating. The difficulties humans encounter in expressing themselves. She examines the role that personality, mental state, emotional intelligence and cultural context play and how all these functions under the use of the constantly-evolving, technological tools of
communication.
Vic Bakin is a self-educated Ukrainian photographer. Rooted in Kyiv, Ukraine, Bakin explores different local communities such as queer and fashion scenes,
rave and music culture and closed communities such as student dorms. Recently, due to the ongoing circumstances, his focus shifted to the themes of war in Ukraine. Void’s interest in personal diaries finds a great place in Bakin’s body of work — which explores his identity through analogue photography.