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, Germany, 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, and embroidery.
EDUCATION:
- M.A. Photography, Muthesius Academy of Art, Kiel (DE) // 2023-present
- 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:
- Salzburg Summer Academy of Fine Arts, Salzburg (AT), 2024 // scholarship
- 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
- Female Ukrainian Photographers, Odesa Photo Days (UA), 2021 // finalist
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS AND SCREENINGS:
2024
- Einblick/Ausblick, Muthesius Kunsthochschule, Kiel (DE)
- Вглиб себе: Методом Експлорації, Municipal Gallery, Kharkiv (UA)
2023
- Lens of Innocence, Galerie Geraldine Banier, Paris (FR)
- Münzenberg Forum, FMP1, Berlin (DE)
- FRESH EYES 2023, Haute Photographie, Amsterdam (NL)
- Perspectives on War and Belonging, galerie KUB, Leipzig (DE)
- Von Zuhause, Wo lang?, Altenburg, (DE) // duo exhibition
- Art is Home, Galerie K55, Heilbronn (DE)
- Ukrainian Perspectives: Photography from the 1940s-now, ChaShaMa, New York (US)
- Relationships, Im Raum, Vienna (AT)
2022
- rûm Issue °V, Oag Kulturraum, Graz (AT)
- We No Longer Feel the Future, MUZA - Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv (IL)
- Heidelberger Fotopreis 2022, Stadtbücherei, Heidelberg (DE)
- razom together, Fluc, Vienna (AT)
- Breathing Houses, Verzasca Foto Festival, Gordola (CH)
- reStart’22, Prospekto Gallery, Vilnius (LT)
- Days of Photography, iManaLab, Nova Gorica (SI)
- Colored Lenses: Life Among Others, Yermilov Centre, Kharkiv (UA) // online
2021
- Light Conversation: Vol. 2, Small Talk Collective, Portland (US) // screening
- Isolation | Freedom, Kranj Foto Fest (SI)
- Female Ukrainian Photographers, Odesa Photo Days (UA) // screening
- Stories, Ph21 Gallery, Budapest (HU)
- The Dreamer, LoosenArt, Rome (IT)
2018
- Accommodation, YermilovCentre, Kharkiv (UA)
- Kharkiv, how we don`t see it, Parade-Fest, Kharkiv (UA)
- Starting point, COME IN, Kharkiv (UA)
RESIDENCIES:
- Wo lang?, Altenburg (DE), 2023
- pARTner Residenz, Feldkirch (AT), 2022
- Verzasca Foto Festival, Frasco (CH), 2022
BOOKS:
- Under Suspicion, edition 8 copies + 1 AP, self-published, 2024
- 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:
Slanted, 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