Émeric Lhuisset returns to Kyiv

In 2014 Maydan Nezalezhnosti, the main square in central Kyiv, was the main scene of protests against President Victor Yanukovych who refused to sign an EU-Ukraine association agreement. The square became the symbol of the ‘pro-EU’ movement in the country. The protests culminated in Yanukovych’s fall and flight to Russia, which subsequently annexed Crimea and supported pro-Russian separatists in the war in eastern Ukraine. This ongoing battle escalated on Thursday, February 24, 2022 with a Russian invasion.

The French artist / photographer Émeric Lhuisset portrayed 100 residents of Kyiv in the square as a tribute to the more than 100 people who died in the fighting with Yanukovych’s troops on Maydan. They all answered two questions:
– what do you hope will happen next?
– what do you think will happen?
Eight years later, their answers published in the book Maydan – Hundred Portraits, are still just as moving and confrontational. Many predicted what is going on right now.

On March 13, 2022 Émeric Lhuisset returned to Kyiv to make another hundred portraits. This time of civilians who had taken up the arms to defend their country and their freedom. For their security he pictured them over the shoulder. As in Maydan – Hundred Portraits they all express their hopes and expectations. Where the basic colour of the hand-filled questionnaires was blue in 2014, yellow has been chosen for Ukraine – Hundred Hidden Faces.

Text and image are equally important in Maydan – Hundred Portraits and Ukraine – Hundred Hidden Faces. Photos and questionnaires with handwritten texts are brought together in a tabloid size book, printed on newspaper stock. Cut loose, the pages turn the content of the book into a mobile exhibition.

The 2014 Maydan photos were first shown at Framer Framed, an Amsterdam art space, during Unseen. Two weeks later, the streets of Sloviansk became the next venue. Here Lhuisset pasted the combinations of portraits and texts on the walls of this town in the Donbass and filmed the reaction of the inhabitants. He wanted to show them what the alleged fascists from Kyiv looked like and share their thoughts. The exhibition was subsequently shown in many European cities, ranging from Kyiv, to Sarajevo to Sète (FR).

The first venue for Ukraine – Hundred Hidden Faces is MBAL (Musée des beaux-arts) in Le Locle (CH). The museum is showing the full series 1:1 extended with some large prints on the windows facing the sidewalk of the street where it is located. It is an excellent example of how to show the work to a large audience, making use of the large format book as the base for exhibitions for makeshift locations to renowned art spaces.

21 May – 25 September, Musée des beaux-arts, rue Marie-Anne-Calame 6, 2400 Le Locle (CH)