Beetles invading your personal space and how to learn to coexist with them. New UAAP member Olga Koval talks about her projects and plans.

Olga Koval is a new member of the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers, who attracts the attention of the artistic community with her original approach to contemporary problems. Her project “Eruption” took the second place in the competition of the Nikolaev school of photography “MYPH” and caused a resonance among viewers and critics. She created more than 40,000 red-winged beetles — sculpted them and painted them by hand. We talked with Olga about the idea of the project, the beetles themselves, photos and finding ourselves.

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— Olga, tell me first, please, how do you position yourself? Who are you — photographer, artist, artist?

— I am an artist for whom photography is the main tool.

In 2019, after completing the course of the school “MYPH”, I began to relate more consciously to photography, especially to performative, where the author can change reality, transforming it to his liking. I was greatly influenced by the conceptual photography course from Roman Pyatkovka. At first I experimented with form and physical photography, made decorative coloring of the work, but then everything moved to the conceptual plane.

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Why did you turn to photography? What led you to the course of the school “MYPH”?

— I have been interested in photography since I was 14, photographing friends and my everyday life. It was pure entertainment and had no deep purpose. After school, I realized that it was time to make a conscious choice.

At that time, I learned about private schools, such as “MYPH” and the Chekachkov School (Academy of Modern Photography, founded by Igor Chekachkov — ed.). In the end, I decided to go to Serhiy Melnichenko in “MYPH”. And I never regretted it, because Sergey really helped me determine my direction, navigated the world of photography. This was important, because I was only 18-19 years old, I had recently graduated from school and was just beginning to understand what adulthood was all about.

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It was thanks to Sergei that I met Roman Pyatkovka. I am gentle with Roma, he is a good teacher and mentor. It was a valuable acquaintance, because in the professions of photographer or artist there is no universal path. Here, each path is unique, and communication with experienced people helps to feel your own.

I was very lucky to meet these people at the age of 19 — it gave me confidence and certainty. Moving from Chernihiv to Kiev only intensified this feeling, added dynamics to my development and movement forward.

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— Tell us more about your project, which took second place in the competition from “MYPH”. What is his idea that you have invested in him? How long have you been working on it, and what does it mean to you?

“Eruption” I created during this year, working on it for about eight months. All this time I was finishing my studies at the university, so in parallel with the main activity I sculpted beetles and painted them. The installation was collected for about a week in the living room of my friend and artist Regina Bukvic. Regarding explication, I am interested in leaving the opportunity for the audience to interpret what they see themselves. There is a certain sense in this when the viewer finds his own understanding in the work by becoming a co-author.

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But, of course, there is my definition. War breeds werewolves: what used to seem normal or safe has now acquired quite different, threatening traits. For example, a living room. A safe, secure space, within modern realities, can kill you under an unfortunate coincidence of circumstances. The invasion of red bugs in the living room serves as a metaphor for the highest degree of vulnerability and anxiety. There are tens of thousands of them, they volcano from the parquet, acquiring aggressive forms, occupy the room, settle on books and rummage in things. It is a natural element that devastates everything in its path. The presence of beetles is a forced circumstance with which one must learn to coexist.

By itself, the bug in different parts of Ukraine is called differently: soldier, fireman, mosquito bug, Cossack. It is a parasite that attracts with its bright color and lives in a group of the same as him. The viewer must independently, relative to the experience experienced, determine what kind of insect it is in front of him.

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“Eruption” was the third installation in a cycle of works on private space during a full-scale invasion.

The first installation was created in Lithuania, at the residence in Klaipeda under the direction of Darius Vajchekauskas. A two-meter sculpture in the form of a stone in the room, which fills all the free space and suffocates with its presence.

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The second installation was in my studio, I first renovated part of the living room and then started painting each object white. And in the end everything becomes white, everything “disappears”. And here “Eruption” is the third part of this cycle.

At this time, I do not plan to continue installing and want to do something else. Yet these three works together form a certain triptych that reflects my reflections on the limits of personal space vulnerability in wartime.

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— On your Instagram there are many intimate photos, works in the style of nude. Also, it seems that you are not just taking pictures, but also coloring these pictures. Is it part of a project, a new job, or more of a personal activity? What is the general idea of these photos?

— Sometimes you just want to create something casual, aesthetic and a bit kitschy. That's what I leave to myself, for pleasure. I personally lack this in my life — lively, sexy, erotic, full of life. Therefore, I sublimate in this way, creating the reality that I want to see.

At the same time, these works have their dark energy. The form is somewhat similar to the work of the Czech classical photographer Jan Saudek, and the content to the American artist Joel-Peter Witkin. I really like this balance between erotic and tantatic.

So far this is a small series of works. Maybe something more will grow out of it.

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— What are you working on now? Maybe there are projects you would like to talk about? Or maybe there are previously created works that have not yet been mentioned?

— At the moment, I plan to complete the project with 12 frames, which I worked on as part of a mentoring program from the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers. My mentor was the wonderful Ivan Chernichkin, with whom we discussed a lot about this project and the appearance of the final result, namely the artbook.

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I would also like to create a trilogy of video art about Ukrainian marginal (non) cultural figures. “With Love, Koptev” was the first film in this upcoming selection. Mikhail Koptev is a marginal designer from Luhansk, known for his extravagant behavior and trashy fashion shows in Luhansk, and now in Kiev, organizes the Orchid Theater, and calls his models “orchids”. This project was my thesis.

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From the university, I had the task of choosing and coming up with a plot for one of the paintings. Therefore, without hindsight, I decided to film Caravaggio, namely the picture “Laying in a coffin.” Thus, this work combined traditional, large, European art with Ukrainian, small and unconventional.

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— Do you have any projects besides “MYPH” where you show the theme of war or plan to display it? Have you ever wanted to be a documentary photographer and capture the war?

“I believe that everything created during the war in one way or another reflects this time — our reality, what is happening in the country and in each of us in our heads. All projects, even the same film “With Love, Koptev”, somehow “scream” about the war. It is impossible to separate the author from his country.

One of the projects I am currently working on is a series of panoramas, where the whole composition is placed throughout the medium format film and as if the puzzle consists of 12 frames. This method of combining the image into one whole composition makes it possible to achieve the “Kulishov effect”: the opposition of two different narratives to create a metanarrative, that is, a new meaning. Also, the panorama helps to better highlight the events taking place in Ukraine during the year. In my focus, events can be minor, but quite revealing, for example, as an examination by a gynecologist of women from a border village.

During the war, the documentary photographer has an important function: to capture and reliably convey the event. Sometimes a snapshot can change or spill over into important decisions. Or change the attitude of an individual. Perhaps one must love this reality very much in order to imitate it. However, my personal approach is to create an alternative world. My task is to take a piece from the real and transform it into an artistic image. In the statement.

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Olga Kovalwas born in 2001 in Chernihiv. He now lives in Kiev. She started doing art in 2019. A graduate of the cinematography faculty at the KNUTCT named after I. Karpenka-Karogo. In 2019, she completed the third MYPH course from Serhiy Melnichenko and the conceptual photography course from Roman Pyatkovka in 2020. Member of the MYPH team. In 2022, she worked in the creative space Menu Zona Residency, Klaipeda by Darius Vaitsekauskas. She entered the four winners of the European photo contest Fresh Eyes Talent in 2023. Participated in a portfolio review at the Museum of Photography Winterthur, Switzerland.

Her work “Stone” is stored in the Odessa Art Museum, and three works from different series are in the private collection of Boris Grinev (Grynyov Art Collection). Finalist of the International Women in Photo Association (IWPA) with a 12-frame project.

Instagramphotographers.

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The material was worked on:
Researcher of the topic, author of the text: Vera Labych
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Literary Editor: Julia Foutei
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