Oleh Pereverzev

/ BIO
Oleh Pereverziev (b. 1986, Ukraine) is a Ukrainian visual artist and documentary photographer working with photography, video and text. For more than fifteen years, he has worked as a freelance photojournalist, collaborating with Ukrainian and international media and covering social, economic, cultural and political issues.
He holds an Associate Degree in Fine Art Photography from the Kyiv College of the Kyiv National University of Technologies and Design (2006).
His work has been published in international media outlets including The Wall Street Journal, Paris Match, Forbes, Reuters, Newsweek Japan, National Review and Aftenposten. He has participated in exhibitions and publications, including the books #EUROMAIDAN – History in the Making and Who Are We? National Communities and Indigenous Peoples of Ukraine. He is also a photographer for the Ukrainian documentary community Ukraїner.

/ ARTIST STATEMENT
I am a Ukrainian documentary photographer whose practice has been shaped by the experience of war and the personal trauma it has caused. The loss of connection with my home and my native place has led me to reflect on how memory is formed and how it becomes embedded in spaces and objects.
War destroys not only cities and landscapes, but also the connections between people, places and memories. Spaces that once seemed stable and familiar can suddenly disappear. In this context, memory becomes a form of resistance against disappearance — a way of preserving the presence of what has already been destroyed or lost.
In my work, I explore memory as an environment where fragile traces of people, objects and events that can no longer be restored remain. I am interested in these echoes that continue to exist after something has passed or disappeared. These may be abandoned interiors, fragments of landscapes, everyday objects or places that continue to carry stories even when the people who created or inhabited them are no longer present. Photography, for me, is a tool of observation that allows me to reveal details often overlooked, details that gain particular significance over time. It can reveal subtle yet tangible traces that remain in a space even when direct evidence has disappeared. These are places of tension between the past and the present, where memory becomes almost material.
I work with real places and objects while also seeking to create a space for reflection and a new emotional experience for the viewer. It is important for me not only to present a particular fact or event, but also to convey the feeling of time that has passed. War fundamentally changes our perception of time. The past begins to be understood differently, the present becomes unstable, and the future uncertain. In such circumstances, memory becomes not simply an archive of events, but an ongoing process that is constantly changing and being reinterpreted. Memories can fade, transform or acquire new meanings depending on how our lives change.
In my project, I aim to address those moments when memory exists between forgetting and preservation, when stories can disappear if they are not noticed or recorded. Photography becomes a way of holding onto these moments, even when their meaning remains open to different interpretations.
My work is also connected to the question of absence. After losing a home or simply a familiar environment, many things are also effectively lost and begin to exist only in memory. Places that were once part of everyday life become images that can change over time, creating a distance between reality and recollection. I do not aim to reconstruct the past literally, but rather to show how it continues to exist through fragments, traces and sensations. These images invite viewers to reflect on their own experiences of memory.
At a time when history is being written every day while simultaneously disappearing rapidly in the flow of news, photography remains, for me, a way to slow down the gaze and draw attention to what may otherwise be lost.

/ IN RESIDENCE
I am applying for this residency to continue my research into the themes of memory and the transformation of experience through photography. For me, this is an opportunity to work within a new context and environment. I am interested in encountering new places and exploring how individual and collective memory manifests itself in different surroundings.
I also see this residency as an opportunity to exchange experiences with other photographers and artists, which may contribute to the development and further direction of my photographic project.