Maryna Shtanko (b. 1992 in Poltava, Ukraine) is a multidisciplinary artist working primarily with photography, bookmaking, and textile-based processes. Growing up in Ukraine and relocating to Germany following the russian full-scale invasion has deeply influenced her engagement with questions of place and collective trauma. Her projects often juxtapose intimate, bodily experiences — such as disorientation, anxiety, or ritual — with larger ecological and geopolitical realities. By combining analogue photographic processes with textiles, video, performance, and artist books, Maryna creates works that resist fixity, emphasizing vulnerability, resilience, and the porous boundary between image, matter, and lived experience.
EDUCATION:
2023-2025 M.A. Photography, Muthesius Academy of Art, Kiel, DE
2017-2019 Photography courses, Chekachkov Photo Academy, Kharkiv, UA
2009-2014 B.A. & M.A. German Language, Kharkiv V.N. Karazin University, UA
AWARDS, SCHOLARSHIPS:
2025 DAAD Prize for International Students, Kiel, DE
2024 Nikon Fotobus Grant, Hannover, DE, shortlist
2024 DAAD Study Scholarship in the field of art, Bonn, DE
2024 Nathan Altman's Prize, Vinnytsya, UA, finalist
2024 Salzburg Summer Academy of Fine Arts, Salzburg, AT, scholarship
2023 Münzenberg Forum Collage Award, Berlin, DE, 1st prize
2023 FRESH EYES Talent by GUP Magazine, NL, finalist
2022 Urbanautica Institute Awards, US, special mention
2021 Female Ukrainian Photographers, Odesa Photo Days, UA, finalist
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS AND SCREENINGS:
2026 elsewhereland, Austrian Cultural Forum, Budapest, HU (upcoming)
2025 Over and Overwhelmed, Runde Ecke, Bochum, DE
2025 Encontros da Imagem Fotolivros, Braga, PT
2025 Home Away From Home, Pandora Art Gallery, Berlin, DE
2024 Nathan Altman's Prize for Young Artists, Vinnytsya, UA
2024 Einblick/Ausblick, Muthesius Kunsthochschule, Kiel, DE
2024 Immersing Yourself: A Method Of Exploration, Municipal Gallery, Kharkiv, UA
2023 Münzenberg Forum, FMP1, Berlin, DE
2023 FRESH EYES 2023, Haute Photographie, Amsterdam, NL
2023 Perspectives on War and Belonging, galerie KUB, Leipzig, DE
2023 Von Zuhause, Wo lang?, Altenburg, DE // duo exhibition
2023 Ukrainian Perspectives, ChaShaMa, New York, US
2023 Relationships, Im Raum, Vienna, AT
2022 We No Longer Feel the Future, MUZA - Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv, IL
2022 Breathing Houses, Verzasca Foto Festival, Gordola, CH
2022 reStart’22, Prospekto Gallery, Vilnius, LT
2022 Days of Photography, iManaLab, Nova Gorica, SI
2022 Colored Lenses: Life Among Others, Yermilov Centre, Kharkiv, UA, online
2021 Isolation | Freedom, Kranj Foto Fest, SI
2021 Female Ukrainian Photographers, Odesa Photo Days, UA, screening
2018 Accommodation, YermilovCentre, Kharkiv, UA
2018 Starting point, COME IN, Kharkiv, UA
RESIDENCIES:
2023 Wo lang?, Altenburg, DE
2022 pARTner Residenz, Feldkirch, AT
2022 Verzasca Foto Festival, Frasco, CH
BOOKS:
2025 Looking For Balance, 14 copies, self-published
2024 Under Suspicion, 8 copies + 1 AP, self-published
2023 A Time to Plant and a Time to Destroy, 30 copies, self-published
2021 Escape, 30 copies + 2 APs, self-published
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:
Print: Camera Austria (Issue 171), Slanted (Issue 43 Ukraine, 45 Sex), Office Ukraine, Einblick / Ausblick 2025 (catalogue), Incandescent Zine (Issue 19), rûm (issue °V, issue °VI)
Web: Broad Magazine, British Journal of Photography, FK Magazine, Fast Forward, Conceptual Projects, The Space In Between, Float Magazine, Artdoc Photography Magazine, Kiosk of Democracy, Don’t Take Pictures
2026 elsewhereland, Austrian Cultural Forum, Budapest, HU (upcoming)
2025 Over and Overwhelmed, Runde Ecke, Bochum, DE
2025 Encontros da Imagem Fotolivros, Braga, PT
2025 Home Away From Home, Pandora Art Gallery, Berlin, DE
2024 Nathan Altman's Prize for Young Artists, Vinnytsya, UA
2024 Einblick/Ausblick, Muthesius Kunsthochschule, Kiel, DE
2024 Immersing Yourself: A Method Of Exploration, Municipal Gallery, Kharkiv, UA
2023 Münzenberg Forum, FMP1, Berlin, DE
2023 FRESH EYES 2023, Haute Photographie, Amsterdam, NL
2023 Perspectives on War and Belonging, galerie KUB, Leipzig, DE
2023 Von Zuhause, Wo lang?, Altenburg, DE // duo exhibition
2023 Ukrainian Perspectives, ChaShaMa, New York, US
2023 Relationships, Im Raum, Vienna, AT
2022 We No Longer Feel the Future, MUZA - Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv, IL
2022 Breathing Houses, Verzasca Foto Festival, Gordola, CH
2022 reStart’22, Prospekto Gallery, Vilnius, LT
2022 Days of Photography, iManaLab, Nova Gorica, SI
2022 Colored Lenses: Life Among Others, Yermilov Centre, Kharkiv, UA, online
2021 Isolation | Freedom, Kranj Foto Fest, SI
2021 Female Ukrainian Photographers, Odesa Photo Days, UA, screening
2018 Accommodation, YermilovCentre, Kharkiv, UA
2018 Starting point, COME IN, Kharkiv, UA
RESIDENCIES:
2023 Wo lang?, Altenburg, DE
2022 pARTner Residenz, Feldkirch, AT
2022 Verzasca Foto Festival, Frasco, CH
BOOKS:
2025 Looking For Balance, 14 copies, self-published
2024 Under Suspicion, 8 copies + 1 AP, self-published
2023 A Time to Plant and a Time to Destroy, 30 copies, self-published
2021 Escape, 30 copies + 2 APs, self-published
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS:
Print: Camera Austria (Issue 171), Slanted (Issue 43 Ukraine, 45 Sex), Office Ukraine, Einblick / Ausblick 2025 (catalogue), Incandescent Zine (Issue 19), rûm (issue °V, issue °VI)
Web: Broad Magazine, British Journal of Photography, FK Magazine, Fast Forward, Conceptual Projects, The Space In Between, Float Magazine, Artdoc Photography Magazine, Kiosk of Democracy, Don’t Take Pictures