“As Yanukovych’s government had just fallen, as the president was on the run and the police had disappeared from the streets of Kiev, for a very short time power belonged entirely to the people. It’s that time of latency, when everything seems possible, that I tried to capture in the eyes of the people as I asked them two questions: What would you like to see happening now? And, what do you think will happen?” – Émeric Lhuisset

Maidan Nezalezhnosti is the name of the main square in the centre of Kiev that became the theatre of pro-EU, anti-government demonstrations at the end of 2013. The protests united thousands of Ukrainians who were tired of the government’s corruption and the Russian grip on their country. After three months the situation escalated when protesters were fired upon by the authorities, leading to the death of more than 100 people – referred to as the ‘Heavenly Hundred’.

With Maydan – Hundred Portraits Lhuisset brings us to February 2014 and the faces of the revolution. Although anchored in a specific time context, the series conveys a shared and universal sense of hope. Be it in the eyes of the young nurse or the elderly Cossack, one can read the same determination, the same commitment.

Authors

Émeric Lhuisset (1983, FR) grew up in the suburbs of Paris. He graduated in art (Ecole des Beaux-Arts de Paris) and in geopolitics (Ecole Normale Supérieure Ulm / Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne). He chose to deal with geopolitical issues through the prism of art, mainly using the medium of photography because of its connection to reality. In his work he is questioning both the representation of the subjects he deals with, as well as the place of photography and the role of the reporter in contemporary conflicts.


Since 2004, he has worked in many war zones (Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, Colombia, Turkey, etc.). After going to Ukraine for the first time during the Revolution of Dignity (Euromaidan) in 2014, he was to return there regularly until today. He participated in numerous exhibitions at, amongst others, Tate Modern (UK), Museum Folkwang (DE), the Institut du Monde Arabe (FR), the Stedelijk Museum (NL), the Rencontres d’Arles (FR), the Sursock Museum (LB) and the Guangdong Times Museum (CN). He won the British Journal of Photography International Photography Award 2020, the BMW Residence for Photography 2018 and the Grand Prix Images Vevey – Leica Prize 2017.


With André Frère Editions and Paradox he published Maydan - Hundred Portraits (2014) and Last Water War(2016). L'autre rive (2017) was published by André Frère Editions and Al-Muthanna. Editions Trocadero published Quand les nuages parleront (2019), Filigranes Editions Le bruit du silence (2020).


In parallel to his artistic practice, he teaches about contemporary art and geopolitics at Sciences Po in Paris.



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Oleksii, 2014
Oleksii, 2014
© Émeric Lhuisset
Print #1 - Olenka
Print #1 - Olenka
© Émeric Lhuisset
Print #4 - Olga Skevchyshyn
Print #4 - Olga Skevchyshyn
© Émeric Lhuisset
Print #3 - Petro Bryndzya
Print #3 - Petro Bryndzya
© Émeric Lhuisset
Taras Antonovych Senyk, 2014
Taras Antonovych Senyk, 2014
© Émeric Lhuisset
Two questions answered by  Yaroslav
Two questions answered by Yaroslav
© Émeric Lhuisset
FRAMER_FRAMED
FRAMER_FRAMED
© Cas Bool
Images Singulières, Sète, 2015
Images Singulières, Sète, 2015
© Christophe Collas
FRAMER_FRAMED
FRAMER_FRAMED
© Cas Bool
Images Singulières, Sète, 2015
Images Singulières, Sète, 2015
© Loic Bonnaure
Images Singulières, Sète, 2015
Images Singulières, Sète, 2015
© Christophe Collas
ImageSingulières 2015, Séte (France)
ImageSingulières 2015, Séte (France)
© Christophe Collas
ImageSingulières 2015, Séte (France)
ImageSingulières 2015, Séte (France)
© Christophe Collas
WARM Festival Sarajevo
WARM Festival Sarajevo

Exhibition

The Maydan exhibition travelled throughout Europe, from Tolhuistuin in Amsterdam, The Netherlands in 2014 to WARM Festival 2015 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.

  • 28.06.201507.07.2015WARM Festival 2015, Sarajevo (BA)

    13.05.201531.05.2015ImageSingulières 2015, Séte (FR)

    13.01.201504.02.2015Photo Phnom Penh 2015, Phnom Penh (KH)

    17.09.201428.09.2014Framer Framed, Tolhuistuin, Amsterdam (NL)

    24.09.201427.09.2014Cultural centre L. ΚανεLLόpoulos (GR)

  • Newspaper prints, large prints and introduction film

Cover Maydan - Hundred Portraits
Cover Maydan - Hundred Portraits
© Emeric Lhuisset
Spread Maydan - Hundred Portraits with the question form
Spread Maydan - Hundred Portraits with the question form
© Émeric Lhuisset
Spread from Maydan - Hundred Portraits
Spread from Maydan - Hundred Portraits
© Émeric Lhuisset
Spread from Maydan - Hundred Portraits
Spread from Maydan - Hundred Portraits
© Émeric Lhuisset
Spread from Maydan - Hundred Portraits
Spread from Maydan - Hundred Portraits
© Émeric Lhuisset
Back cover Maydan - Hundred Portraits
Back cover Maydan - Hundred Portraits
© Émeric Lhuisset

Book

The portraits of the hundred protesters are printed in a book, together with the personal motivation of each of them. The photos are printed on newspaper with a brochure binding, which gives the reader the opportunity to cut the publication and form a mobile exhibition.

Together with the written interviews, each photograph becomes the testimony of a recent moment that is already long gone. As the French art critic Adrien Goetz puts it in the introduction to the book, “the power of these images goes with the force of these words, scribbled by each, but in the name of all”.

Buy
  • Photography: Émeric Lhuisset
    Language: Ukrainian/Russian/Englisch/French/German/Dutch
    Print: Rodi Rotatiedruk, Koninklijke Van Gorcum (cover)
    Graphic Design: Pierre Rousteau
    Co-production: Paradox/YdocPublishing and André Frère Éditions
    Binding: Schweizer brochure in cover
    Book size: 290 x 420 mm
    Number of pages: 224
    ISBN: 978-90-818876-3-2
    Publisher: Paradox and André Frère Éditions

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