CULTURE of the CONFRONTATION #euromaidan

• Prize
• Photographer
  Maxim Dondyuk, Ukraine
• Studio
  Maxim Dondyuk

Winter 2013 changed Ukraine.

3 months of bloody clashes, tears, fear, Molotov cocktails, burning
car tires and deaths. It already wasn’t just a protest in the support
of EU. Ukrainian revolution brought new spirit, changed people
and their minds, they became one organism that fight with a great
passion and intensity for happy future.

From the very beginning Euromaidan turned into a real
performance, where started the battle of opposites. Good and evil,
light and shadow, thick black smoke and whiteness of the
February snow, orange helmets against black. On the revolutionary
canvas creepy bloody scenes interwove with incredibly beautiful,
from visually side, views. Euromaidan became one of the most
beautiful revolutions, like scenes from Hollywood film.

In my photos I tried to show the scale of all that happened in the
centre of the country. Very often I lost the line between reality and
fiction. I forgot the place, time and the cause of what was
happening. In one moment the battle scenes reminded terrible
days of the previous wars. In another - frosty, fiery battle turned
Maidan Nezalezhnosty into a phantasmagoric place. Carefree,
obstreperous Kyiv completely lost its familiar features.

• Awards
  The list of his grants and awards is long but among them are: Winner of the Ville de Perpignan Remi Ochlik Award, Magnum Photos competition ‘30 under 30’ for emerging documentary photographers, Finalist of the W. Eugene Smith Grant in Humanistic Photography, Finalist for the FotoEvidence Book Award, Grand Prix ‘Best Global Health Story’ of the BD’s Hope for a Healthy World Photo Competition, Grand Prix of the ‘Best Photo of the Year’ at the contest ‘Photographer of the Year’, shortlist in the portraiture category of Sony World Photography Awards etc.