‘Sevastopol Unity’ is a documentary collection of photographs dedicated to Crimea’s youth culture before the 2014 annexation. Containing over 300 images sourced from the private archives of local residents, the book is now open for pre-orders. DTF Magazine spoke with the project’s initiator, Yaroslav Andriianov, to learn more about ‘Sevastopol Unity’
About the idea
According to Yaroslav, after the annexation, ‘the city became entirely different, and almost nothing remained of the place where they lived and what they created, except for cold structures’. That is why he decided to ‘structure these memories and preserve them in some form before they completely fade from memory’.
‘Our youthful energy and time were rapidly consumed by new music, different forms of creativity through which we grew and discovered ourselves, as well as extreme sports. We were completely immersed in it, creating a world of our own. That world disappeared after the annexation, with most of us ending up in different corners of the globe. My goal is to preserve this story and show the world that we valued our space, respected it, and wanted to develop it’.
The search for photographs
To gather the images, Yaroslav reached out to friends who might have had ‘interesting photos’ and also explored his own personal archive. The collection also includes Yaroslav’s film photographs, scanned from negatives that his family took with them when leaving the occupied peninsula.
‘We took a lot of photos on film, and when we left, my family took some of my negatives with them. I discovered this accidentally just last year and set out to rescan the entire archive. It wasn’t an easy process: I had already forgotten about some of the films, and some of the people in the photographs were no longer alive. I had to go through more than sixty rolls of film, but by the third one I was already overwhelmed with a wave of nostalgia and tears’.
In total, the search and selection process took about three to five months. In the end, about 300 photos were chosen from more than 6,000.
Yaroslav says that the biggest challenge was the quality of the photos: ‘Much of the valuable material was low quality — mostly saved from social media — and no matter how we tried to upscale or enhance it, nothing really worked’.
Among the photographers whose work is featured in ‘Sevastopol Unity’ are Ana Rtishcheva, Anastasiia Diduk, Volodymyr Levytskyi, Ivan Sydelnikov, Mykyta Blikov, Stepan Chepil, Yaroslav Andriianov, and Yaroslav Storchak.
The concept behind the book
Conceptually, the photographs are divided into three sections: the first focuses on the nature of Crimea and people’s interaction with it; the second explores the local music scene, concerts, and events; and the third is dedicated to street culture — including extreme sports, streetwear, as well as places and people that were significant to the community.
‘I decided to divide the photo selection into three sections to more precisely convey the main idea of the book. At the same time, the texts and stories in the book are presented sequentially, while the photographs appear in a mixed selection. This was done deliberately to keep the reader’s attention and immerse them more deeply in the overall storytelling’, Yaroslav adds.
Speaking about the series that are particularly special to him, he says: ‘There are two of them: Ivan Sydelnykov’s photos of hardcore concerts shot on film and fish-eye lenses, and my own personal photos from Diana’s Grotto at Cape Fiolent — it was our hiking mecca. Tents, bonfires, grilling mussels, and sea-chilled beer. I have a strong photographic memory, so when I look at these pictures, I recall every single moment’.
Переглянути цей допис в Instagram
Pre-orders for ‘Sevastopol Unity’ are now open. You can place yours by sending a DM. The book’s official release is scheduled for later this year.
