Developed in his lavatory, Ones To Watch winner Vic Bakin’s photos provide nostalgia in a time of battle
Vic Bakin was born in 1984, in a tiny village in Turkmenistan that “is probably now non-existent”. Raised close to the Carpathian Mountains in western Ukraine, Bakin moved to Kyiv 13 years in the past, the place he lives as we speak. Throughout this lifetime of migration, Bakin discovered pictures. Though, he laughs, there was no “I noticed Edward Weston and I started” second.
With out pursuing a proper schooling in pictures, Bakin began making photos of Ukrainian youth (usually younger males and usually for trend manufacturers), queer communities and rave tradition. Whereas every group was completely different, Bakin was drawn to the shared expertise of thriller and contradictions that coming of age brings.
Epitome, his most up-to-date work, started from an analogous place. Initially a poetic exploration of youth and masculinity, the work pulled in a brand new course when Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022. The pictures of tender our bodies and tranquil land grew to become much less about masculinity and extra about belonging and the fragility of it amid chaos. But, regardless of the grief that now entwined round Epitome, Bakin discovered solace in rediscovering faces and locations from the previous.
