ProgresFestival Magazine

Self-portraits: for the artistic projects section.

Capturing a series of good self-portraits is challenging; however, once achieved, it reveals something significant about the photographer.

When entries for the competition were accepted, we aimed to avoid emphasizing any details that could reveal the motivations and nationality of the participants.

The judges approached the submissions with an unbiased perspective. It wasn’t until we were preparing this book that we discovered the majority of the participants are Ukrainian – Iryna Kabysh, Savka, Andrii Bulavka, Iryna Vlasiuk, Li Biletska, Polina Shumacher, Anton Konovalenko –, and that many of the projects are influenced by the ongoing war in the region.

The winning project, made by an expatriate Russian, is especially representative of this.