Maryna Shtanko is a visual artist, photographer, and bookmaker born in 1992 in Poltava, Ukraine.
In 2009-2022 she lived and worked in Kharkiv, Ukraine. After Russia launched a full-scale invasion
of Ukraine in February 2022, Maryna had to flee abroad. She is currently based in Kiel where she studies
photography at Muthesius Academy of Art. In her artistic practice, Maryna questions migration, personal
freedom, memory, and phobias. She mainly works with analog photography and explores other media like
bookmaking, textile, text, embroidery, and illustration.
In 2009-2022 she lived and worked in Kharkiv, Ukraine. After Russia launched a full-scale invasion
of Ukraine in February 2022, Maryna had to flee abroad. She is currently based in Kiel where she studies
photography at Muthesius Academy of Art. In her artistic practice, Maryna questions migration, personal
freedom, memory, and phobias. She mainly works with analog photography and explores other media like
bookmaking, textile, text, embroidery, and illustration.
EDUCATION:
- M.A. Photography, Muthesius Academy of Art, Kiel (DE) // 2023-now
- Photography courses, Chekachkov Photo Academy, Kharkiv (UA) // 2017-2019
- M.A. German Language & Literature, V.N. Karazin University, Kharkiv (UA) // 2013-2014
- B.A. German Language & Literature, V.N. Karazin University, Kharkiv (UA) // 2009-2013
AWARDS, SCHOLARSHIPS:
- Münzenberg Forum Art Competition, Berlin (DE), 2023 // 1st prize winner
- FRESH EYES Talent by GUP Magazine (NL), 2023 // finalist
- Urbanautica Institute Awards 2022 (US), 2023 // special mention
- Heather B. Mattera Opportunity Scholarship, StrudelmediaLive (US), 2022 // scholarship
- Female Ukrainian Photographers, Odesa Photo Days (UA), 2021 // finalist
EXHIBITIONS AND SCREENINGS:
2023
- Lens of Innocence, Galerie Geraldine Banier, Paris (FR) // group exhibition
- Münzenberg Forum, FMP1, Berlin (DE) // group exhibition
- FRESH EYES 2023, Haute Photographie, Amsterdam (NL) // group exhibition
- Perspectives on War and Belonging, galerie KUB, Leipzig (DE) // group exhibition
- Von Zuhause, Wo lang?, Altenburg, (DE) // duo exhibition
- Art is Home, Galerie K55, Heilbronn (DE) // group exhibition
- Ukrainian Perspectives: Photography from the 1940s-now, ChaShaMa, New York (US) // group exhibition
- Relationships, Im Raum, Vienna (AT) // group exhibition
2022
- rûm Issue °V, Oag Kulturraum, Graz (AT) // group exhibition
- We No Longer Feel the Future, MUZA - Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv (IL) // group exhibition
- Heidelberger Fotopreis 2022, Stadtbücherei, Heidelberg (DE) // group exhibition
- razom together, Fluc, Vienna (AT) // group exhibition
- Breathing Houses, Verzasca Foto Festival, Gordola (CH) // group exhibition
- reStart’22, Prospekto Gallery, Vilnius (LT) // group exhibition
- Days of Photography, iManaLab, Nova Gorica (SI) // group exhibition
- Colored Lenses: Life Among Others, Yermilov Centre, Kharkiv (UA) // online exhibition
2021
- Light Conversation: Vol. 2, Small Talk Collective, Portland (US) // screening
- Isolation | Freedom, Kranj Foto Fest (SI) // group exhibition
- Female Ukrainian Photographers, Odesa Photo Days (UA) // screening
- Stories, Ph21 Gallery, Budapest (HU) // group exhibition
- The Dreamer, LoosenArt, Rome (IT) // group exhibition
2018
- Accommodation, YermilovCentre, Kharkiv (UA) // group exhibition
- Kharkiv, how we don`t see it, Parade-Fest, Kharkiv (UA) // group exhibition
- Starting point, COME IN, Kharkiv (UA) // group exhibition
RESIDENCIES:
- Wo lang?. Altenburg (DE), 2023 // scholarship, residence
- pARTner Residenz, Feldkirch (AT), 2022 // residence
- Verzasca Foto Festival, Frasco (CH), 2022 // residence
BOOKS:
- A Time to Plant and a Time to Destroy, edition 30 copies, self-published // 2023
- Escape, edition 30 copies + 2 APs, self-published // 2021
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:
British Journal of Photography, FK Magazine, Fast Forward, Conceptual Projects,
The Space In Between, Float Magazine, F-Stop Magazine, Aint Bad, Incandescen Zine
(Issue 19), rûm (issue °V), Pearl Press, Artdoc Photography Magazine, Kiosk of Democracy,
Don’t Take Pictures, Outlast Journal, DECALOGUE Magazine, The Luna Collective