Maxim Dondyuk

Maxim Dondyuk (; born 1983) is a Ukrainian photographer and visual artist, who combines photography, video, text, and archival material in his work. He explores issues of history, memory, conflicts, and their consequences.

Dondyuk's work has been exhibited internationally in solo and group exhibitions, at the Musée d'Art Moderne in Paris, Somerset House in London, and MAXXI in Rome. In 2016 he was awarded an artist residency Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris.

Life and work Dondyuk was born in the Ukrainian SSR. His projects include TB epidemic in Ukraine (2010–2012), a two-year work that investigates the problem of tuberculosis in Ukraine; Crimea Sich (2010–2013), a series of photographs and a short documentary film, which tells about a military upbringing of children in the secret camp in the Crimea Mountains; Between Life and Death (2017), a personal reflection on the aftermath of wars through the ruins and devastated landscapes; Culture of Confrontation (2013–2014), dedicated to the events of the Ukrainian Revolution 2013/14, which in 2019 resulted in the book of the same name; Untitled Project from Chornobyl (2016–ongoing), where Dondyuk works with found photographs in the restricted areas of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone

His work has been published in magazines such as Time, Der Spiegel, Stern, Paris Match, Rolling Stone, Photo District News, Bloomberg Businessweek, Russian Reporter, Libération, Polka, 6Mois and Esquire. He also works with international organizations, such as International Committee of the Red Cross and the World Health Organization.

Publications Culture of Confrontation. Self-published, 2019.

Films Crimea Sich (2013) – short film Culture of Confrontation – video installation

Awards 2012: Grand Prix Best Global Health Story of Becton Dickinson (BD)'s Hope for a Healthy World Photo Competition 2012: Finalist for a grant of The Manuel Rivera-Ortiz Foundation for Documentary Photography & Film 2013: Shortlist in the Portraiture category of Sony World Photography Awards 2013: Finalist of the W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography from W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund 2014: Magnum Photos competition '30 under 30' for emerging documentary photographers 2014: Winner of the Ville de Perpignan Remi Ochlik Award 2015: Winner of the Photo District News Photo Annual 2015 in documentary category 2015: Prix de la Photographie, Paris, Press War Category, 1st Prize 2015: Prix Pictet Photography Prize is Disorder, Shortlist 2015: 1st place in Editorial: General News category, 13th Annual Lucie Awards (IPA) 2015: Editorial Photographer of the Year, Lucie Awards (IPA) 2016: LensCulture Exposure Awards, 3rd Prize Series 2016: Magnum Photography Awards, Finalist 2017: W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography, Finalist 2021: Ukrainian Cultural Fund, Grant recipient 2022: Polka Award for Photographer of the Year 2022: Recipient of the W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography from the W. Eugene Smith Memorial Fund for Ukraine 2014/22

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions 2011: Tuberculosis, Center of Documentary Photography «Fotodoc», Moscow 2012: TB epidemic in Ukraine, Donetsk; Zaporizhzhia; Uzhhorod; Vinnytsia; Dnipro, Ukraine 2013: Uman, Rosh Hashanah, Gallery Camera, Kyiv, Ukraine 2013: Culture of Confrontation, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine 2018: Past. Present. Future., M17 Contemporary Art Center, Kyiv, Ukraine 2019: Culture of Confrontation, Municipal Museum im Kornhouse, Kirchheim unter Teck, Germany; Municipal Gallery Ehingen, Germany 2021: Untitled project from Chornobyl, The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Kyiv, Ukraine 2022: Russian Invasion of Ukraine, the House of Lucie, Budapest, Hungary 2022: Modern Ukrainian landscape, Ya Gallery Center, Lviv, Ukraine 2022: Fight back / Відсіч, Dukat gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine 2023: Ukraine 2014/22, Municipal Gallery Ehingen, Germany

Group exhibitions 2014: Road to Freedom, Checkpoint Charlie Museum, Berlin 2014: Apocalypse of the 20th Century, Museum of The History of Ukraine in World War II, Kyiv, Ukraine 2014: Culture of Confrontation, Visa pour l'image, Perpignan, France 2015–2017: Culture of Confrontation as a part of Prix Pictet Disorder finalists: Musée d'Art Moderne, Paris; CAB Art Center, Brussels, Belgium; Kunstverein, Hamburg, Germany; International Red Cross and Red Crescent Museum, Geneva, Switzerland; LUMA Westbau – Löwenbräukunst, Zurich, Switzerland; MAXXI, National Museum of XXI Century Arts, Rome, Italy; The Old Municipal Gallery, Athens, Greece; Somerset House, London; Bank Gallery, Tokyo; Dublin Gallery of Photography, Dublin, Ireland; Palau Robert, Barcelona, Spain; Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, USA 2020: Untitled Project from Chornobyl, Vintage Photo Festival, Bydgoszcz, Poland 2020: Dealing with Memory, Frappant Gallery, Hamburg, Germany 2023: Between Life and Death, Le Carré d'Art, Chartres de Bretagne, France 2023: Ukraine 2014/22, Fondazione Imago Mundi, Gallerie delle Prigioni, Treviso, Italy 2023: War. Ukraine 2022, Le bleu du ciel, Lyon, France

Screenings

Crimea Sich, American Independence Film Festival, Kyiv, Ukraine, 2013 Culture of Confrontation video installation, The Church of Saint-Merri, Paris, 2015; Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego, USA, 2017; Ukraine 2022, PHOTO ELYSÉE, Lausanne, Switzerland, 2023