Since growing up in a small Ukranian town, Maryna Zaitseva had a profound interest in and love for photography. From a young age she not only enjoyed shooting on film but also experimenting with print techniques in her own studio. During her formal education and first job experiences she continued her photographic journey. Still more a hobby than a profession, Zaitseva decided to use her passion for visual arts to fully engage in photography and videography. As a result, she launched her own magazine and worked as a writer and editor for 10 years, before fully dedicating herself to photography, using it as the chosen medium for her creative expression while traveling and working on various projects.
As a refugee from Ukraine, Zaitseva’s main driving force lies in the visual communication of the war, telling stories about the suffering and the lives the past months have destroyed. Her work is characterized by capturing and transmitting these emotions on various media – photos, videos, prints on fabric -, researching and transforming the destructive forces of war by the means of visual arts and thus facilitating conversations about the effect of (mental) war on and between people.
“For me, photography was and is a source of energy, exchange and history. However, dates, periods, or achievements have lost their meaning as my attitude towards time and everything I have done has shifted drastically. The date of February 24 divided life into only 2 periods: before and after.”Maryna Zaitseva