Oleg Maliovany (b. 1945)

Oleg Maliovany (b. 1945) is one of the key personalities in Kharkiv photographic community. He was born into the family from Kharkiv that was evacuated to Altai during WWII. Maliovany was interested in photography during his school years, and in 1968 had his 1st solo exhibition in Kharkiv. 
In 1970s-1980s his favourite techniques were overlays, collages, and posterizations. The artworks were highly appreciated among Kharkiv bohemians at the time and he was the only photographer in the city who privately sold his art.

Yevhen (Evgeniy) Pavlov (b. 1949)

Yevhen (Evgeniy) Pavlov (b. 1949) – one of the foudners of the Kharkiv school of photography. As a student of Economy faculty at the O.M. Gorky Kharkiv State Univseristy, became a participant of the regional photo club at the Trade Unions’ Amateur Arts House, where met authors with whom in the early 1970s founded the ‘Vremia’ photographic group (Oleg Maliovany, Boris Mikhailov, Oleksandr Sitnichenko, Oleksandr Suprun, Gennadiy Tublaev, and later Anatoliy Makiyenko).
The Violin (1972) is one of the seminal series created by the group. The artist experimented with a wide range of techniques from colour skides and overlays to collages and hand-colouring.

Viktor Kochetov (b. 1947) and Serhiy Kochetov (b. 1972) 

The father and son Viktor Kochetov (b. 1947) and Serhiy Kochetov (b. 1972) created a recognisable ironic style of seeing daily life, bringing “Lurik” photography tradition, popular in Kharkiv, to its aesthetic limits. Viktor Kochetov is a representative of the first generation of Kharkiv School of Photography. A significant part of his body of work was created together with the son Serhiy, who assisted Viktor since he was a teenager.

The authors are known for the extensive usage of the method of hand-colouring of black and white prints, which is rooted in the tradition of "Lurik", or enlarged, retouched and often tinted photographic portraits. It was a common practice that evolved into the embodiment of kitsch and image of an average soviet person.

Roman Pyatkovka (b. 1955)

Roman Pyatkovka (b. 1955) pioneered a style of photography which challenged the prevailing ethos of Socialist Realism, the style which had dominated Soviet photography and filmmaking since the early 1930s. Pyatkovka’s use of overlays and hand-colouring helped define this new style, one which would continue to push artistic boundaries both during and after the more artistically varied Perestroyka years.

The author is focused not on the aesthetics of a single image, but rather on the integrity of the message. The main topics of his body of work are sexuality and female nudity as the markers of the social situation, which reveals “sovietness” of the past and present.

Yurii (Jury) Rupin (1946-2008)

Yurii (Jury) Rupin (1946-2008) – a rebellious soul, an enthusiastic advocate of the ‘Vremia’ group’s methods and approaches, and a Kharkiv photography chronicler (his novel A Photographer’s Diary from the KGB Archives was published on-line), Rupin based his own work on breaking the Soviet taboos and conventions in art. 
In his practice of 1970s he favoured experimental photography. He was the few first Kharkiv authors to master colour photography, both for commercial purposes and for art photography, amplifying the dramatic effects of images. Despite nude imagery was tabooed in the Soviet Union, it is this genre that mostly draws the master’s attention.

Serhii Solonskyi (b. 1957)

Serhii Solonskyi (b. 1957) while being a student attended a cinema club and gradually got interested in photography. He has been exhibited since the late 1980s, drawing the public attention with his collages (Bestiary series).
Solonskyi’s compositions develop the principle of “module collage” based on creating an image by repeating one element (Phallic Heraldry series). His pieces are defined by the inclination towards the surreal vision of body: corporeal metamorphosis are represented not only with the help of montage, but other techniques, such as long exposure. 

Oleksandr Suprun (b. 1945)

Oleksandr Suprun (b. 1945), during the first decade of his creativity, concentrated mainly on straight documentary photography, but in 1975 he found interest in the collage technique, which gradually replaced ‘pure’ shots.
Thus, in his famous Lilies of the Valley (or Springtime in the Forest), the same flower fragment was used 51 times. His personages were mostly elderly people and kids, the most vulnerable social groups, often placed against a sinister-looking urban background with dramatic high-contrast skies.

Stanislav Voliazlovskyi (1971 -2018)

Stanislav Voliazlovskyi (b.1971) – the creator of a trend in art called 'chanson-art'. His authentic style corresponds to the style of his hometown Kherson. It is all about sincerity, self-mockery, black humour, ludicrous funny cases and rumours. Everyday life artefacts, layered on top of horrors from the ‘big world’, transcended to his works in a grotesque manner.

Serhiy Lebedynskyi (b.1982)

Serhiy Lebedynskyi (b.1982) – photographer, curator, holds a PhD in Engineering and works as a freelance photographer. His book Euromaidan was published by Riot Books in 2014.

Vladyslav Krasnoshchok (b.1980) 

Vladyslav Krasnoshchok (b.1980) – artist, apart from documentary photography, which is aesthetically transformed using different technical manipulations, he also uses anonymous archives and hand-colouring, combines shots with sculptural objects, and experiments with graphic art, engraving and street art.

Vadym Trykoz (b.1984) 

Vadym Trykoz (b.1984) started as a photographer in early 2007, when he took his first black and white film photography. He likes to discover his own feelings and reflect them through camera.