Hanna Hrabarska
Portfolio for PhMuseum // 2024
Hanna Hrabarska (1986) is a Ukrainian photographer, visual artist, and photojournalist.
Over the last decade she has established herself as a freelance photographer, photojournalist and documentary artist — with both commissioned and autonomous work.
Before the war, Hanna was running a portrait studio in
Kyiv and toured with bands and techno DJs around the world as a music photographer.
She holds a Master of Arts degree in Journalism from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Kyiv (2010).
In the course of her now thirteen-year career in photography, Hanna's work was published in numerous media outlets and exhibited in many countries.
Her photography has been part of a group show at 2022's Venice Biennale ("This is Ukraine; Defending Freedom").
In 2024 Hanna's first photography book "My Mom Wants to Go Back Home" was released in the Netherlands by Jap Sam Books, designed by Mainstudio.
Over the last decade she has established herself as a freelance photographer, photojournalist and documentary artist — with both commissioned and autonomous work.
Before the war, Hanna was running a portrait studio in
Kyiv and toured with bands and techno DJs around the world as a music photographer.
She holds a Master of Arts degree in Journalism from the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Kyiv (2010).
In the course of her now thirteen-year career in photography, Hanna's work was published in numerous media outlets and exhibited in many countries.
Her photography has been part of a group show at 2022's Venice Biennale ("This is Ukraine; Defending Freedom").
In 2024 Hanna's first photography book "My Mom Wants to Go Back Home" was released in the Netherlands by Jap Sam Books, designed by Mainstudio.
My Mom Wants to Go Back Home is a documentary diary by photographer Hanna Hrabarska. Together with her mother Iryna, she fled the war in Ukraine, to find a temporary home in the Netherlands.
After being showcased in numerous galleries and museums around the world, this quiet and intimate personal story of becoming a war refugee now will reach even a bigger audience in a shape of a photo book.
'My Mom Wants To Go Back Home is a moving documentary diary that charts the journey through the lens of her mother's experience. The images born of this year of uncertainty — sometimes somber, sometimes humorous, always tender —grapple with uprooting and rerooting, focusing not only on leaving one's home but also on what happens when we arrive somewhere else' — Sophie Wright, LensCulture
After being showcased in numerous galleries and museums around the world, this quiet and intimate personal story of becoming a war refugee now will reach even a bigger audience in a shape of a photo book.
'My Mom Wants To Go Back Home is a moving documentary diary that charts the journey through the lens of her mother's experience. The images born of this year of uncertainty — sometimes somber, sometimes humorous, always tender —grapple with uprooting and rerooting, focusing not only on leaving one's home but also on what happens when we arrive somewhere else' — Sophie Wright, LensCulture
'EUOROREMONT'
(Euro-renovation)
— a project I started a long time ago, perhaps in 2012, but was shooting mostly between 2013 (The Revolution of Dignity) and up until 2022, when I left Ukraine because of the full-scale Russian invasion.
It consists photos from a few different documentary series and journalistic work, including my private archives, that I dream to unite into one book. I believe it might become an important document about this special period in Ukraine's history — between the Revolution and the war.
(Euro-renovation)
— a project I started a long time ago, perhaps in 2012, but was shooting mostly between 2013 (The Revolution of Dignity) and up until 2022, when I left Ukraine because of the full-scale Russian invasion.
It consists photos from a few different documentary series and journalistic work, including my private archives, that I dream to unite into one book. I believe it might become an important document about this special period in Ukraine's history — between the Revolution and the war.
na chuzhiy zemli ('on a foreign land')
2023 – ongoing
is a story about young Ukrainian refugees, who were supposed to become a future generation of their own country, but have been spread around the world after the brutal Russian invasion.
on a foreign land
what will we build
and to whom shall belong
what we will build
on a foreign land
"Zemlia" is a unique word in Ukrainian language, that can be translated as "land", but also "ground", "soil", "Earth" and even "world" itself.
Zemlia was always a central figure of Ukrainian culture, mythology and philosophy, because the battle for our lands never stopped throughout history.
For this new photography project, I portray young Ukrainians in their new places of temporary (?) residence, and conduct interviews about their new sense of self and identity.
2023 – ongoing
is a story about young Ukrainian refugees, who were supposed to become a future generation of their own country, but have been spread around the world after the brutal Russian invasion.
on a foreign land
what will we build
and to whom shall belong
what we will build
on a foreign land
"Zemlia" is a unique word in Ukrainian language, that can be translated as "land", but also "ground", "soil", "Earth" and even "world" itself.
Zemlia was always a central figure of Ukrainian culture, mythology and philosophy, because the battle for our lands never stopped throughout history.
For this new photography project, I portray young Ukrainians in their new places of temporary (?) residence, and conduct interviews about their new sense of self and identity.
Portrait Photography
Portraying people has been one of my main passions from the start.
I was lucky enough to meet many amazing souls and faces and to come close enough to make intimate photos.
Lately my style becomes more and more simple and minimalistic, focusing only on the face itself, rather than trying to picture the person in front of me in a complex and truthful manner.
I prefer capturing moment rather than a character in its' whole complexity, because one moment at a time is enough to tell the story.
I also love to use longer exposure, because there is something poetic in preserving longer fraction of life in one frame.
You can see more of my work on my main website.
Portraying people has been one of my main passions from the start.
I was lucky enough to meet many amazing souls and faces and to come close enough to make intimate photos.
Lately my style becomes more and more simple and minimalistic, focusing only on the face itself, rather than trying to picture the person in front of me in a complex and truthful manner.
I prefer capturing moment rather than a character in its' whole complexity, because one moment at a time is enough to tell the story.
I also love to use longer exposure, because there is something poetic in preserving longer fraction of life in one frame.
You can see more of my work on my main website.
These were some of my projects that keep me busy now.
Please don't hesitate to ask me for more examples of my work, if you'd like to see it.
I publish updates on Instagram frequently, if you also want to get to know me better as a person and make sure I fit into study program.
Please don't hesitate to ask me for more examples of my work, if you'd like to see it.
I publish updates on Instagram frequently, if you also want to get to know me better as a person and make sure I fit into study program.