Genia Volkov seeks to reclaim the term “documentary photography”, narrowed into a one-dimensional relationship with reality, as the extension of self. His work flows from a mixture of questions: are images our life? Are we being made into images by our habit of documenting life? Does our routine immersion in them dull our perception of reality or does it refine it? Confessional and instinctual, even though Volkov’s photographs have a vivid subject matter, their magnetism streams from the enigmatic eloquence of the narrator’s voice.
Genia Volkov’s photography is simultaneously anonymous and biographical. The artist largely channels documentary practice but also works in multiple modes of image making, ranging from intimate erotic diaries to architecturally linear landscape shots and radiant, neon-lit figures.
Despite his direct involvement, Volkov maintains the removed gaze of a curious passerby. His images are the keyholes through which viewers peer into human life with its myriad of complexities. The shots are framed by both the vague notion of mortality and the jubilant energy of being alive. They are philosophical chronicles of the irrepressible passage of time, celebrating its joys and exploring transformations, set against the backdrop of the artist’s travels, brooding energies of the political landscape, and changing seasons.
Genia Volkov (b. 1981) is an artist working in photography and film. He is the driving force behind Join The Cool, a Kiev based creative group of multidisciplinary artists. Self-taught photographer, Volkov cites his personality growth as the predominant learning curve in his creative work. His formal education lists an international school of photography ISSP, Latvia, where his series “Perception Narcomaniac” was the part of the final ISSP 2016 Exhibition. Photography publications include I-D, Purple Fashion Magazine, Dazed Digital, Vogue, Calvert Journal… Genia Volkov lives and works in Kiev, Ukraine.
Photography & Text / Genia Volkov
