By Anna Konovalenko

Viktoria Prokopiv is a 20-year-old student on a filmmaking course in Scotland. She came here from Ukraine to study and develop herself. Vika identifies herself as an artist. She draws, but her main passion is photography.

Photo by Viktoria Prokopiv

Consciousness for the craft was suddenly evoked in Viktoria with her first film camera in 2019. She became very engaged and started to discover how photography works while simultaneously planning her life and the possibility of moving to Kyiv to study at the Art Academy. However, the war made its adjustments.

When the war just broke out, Viktoria was in Lviv, Ukraine, and she stayed there for months that followed. She recalls her emotional state was deeply affected. She quit drawing and photography, re-entering the art world only a couple of months later with an urge to express her feelings.

‘Artistry works as therapy. After traumatic events, you reach the point when you need to work this through. I think that is what happened when I started creating art again. It inspired me. I felt alive. Of course, all those events influenced me as well as my style. It influenced a lot of people, though. You have a lot of feelings you cannot just simply run away from. Things happen you cannot change, so you just need to come to terms with them.’

As for the artist, noting the progress is essential for Viktoria to see where she is heading with her mastery. Since the full-scale invasion, the mood of the photography has changed. Focusing mostly on nature, she started thoroughly studying trees, sketching, drawing and taking photos of them. Her main focus has shifted to black and white photography, where the root of this idea is the ability to depict and pass through a message of feelings in a colourless space.

‘Right now, I’m really into black and white photography and sepia effect.’

‘They are not that emotional, however, more about the depth. In my photos, you can barely see the contrast. They are more about harmony and pithiness. When you take the colour away, you can feel details and tenderness. I choose black and white photography for the very reason that it can show more texture and fragility of the world. For instance, if you take the street. Taking away the colours, you start feeling the photo, the movement and the spirit.’

Photo by Viktoria Prokopiv

‘Photography is how I communicate my inner world. I like playing with lights. I like taking pictures of the sunlight through tree branches. I like how the sun reflects in the water. I like the way I can experiment with editing, for example changing colours or taking them away completely. While editing I feel I represent my outlook on the world. That’s why I always feel so inspired while doing it.’

Viktoria is amidst figuring out her authentic style, and she stresses that not all stills represent her and her perspective. At the moment nature is where she finds peace, and, from a far-sighted perspective, she sees herself developing in socially-important topics and representing them through art.

Photo by Viktoria Prokopiv