“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.
Exhibition
The Maydan exhibition travelled throughout Europe, from Tolhuistuin in Amsterdam, The Netherlands in 2014 to WARM Festival 2015 in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
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”.
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Programme Paradox at Arles
6 July 2016From July 4 until July 10 the opening of Les Rencontres d’Arles takes place, with international photography events in parts of the city. Paradox is at Arles to present the latest publications and projects. We’d love to meet you there!
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25% Discount on selected photo books
10 December 2018Seasons greetings, photobook lovers! In 2019/2020, Paradox celebrates 25 years of documentary projects. Founded in 1993, our first four productions became visible in 1995. Starting with a film projection in the streets of Amsterdam, The Neighbor Next Door, by Shimon Attie, Paradox went on to produce extensive documentary projects. Remember Ad van Denderen’s early look...
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