When I traveled to Ukraine in 2009/10, I wanted to make a portrait of the country today. But I arrived yesterday.
I remember an old man standing before a shopping center. He was wearing a military uniform covered in medals and waiting for his wife. He was paying tribute to capitalism, like a parishioner who waits for Sunday to put on his finest clothes. This story made we want to take pictures, to present my vision of Ukraine.
The people in my pictures became figurines petrified by an uncertain present. They appear as metaphors or icons. Some detail in their midst suggests our era, like a treasure hunt. For example, in this photo of a beach in Sevastopol with a father and his children. The image is timeless, but in the background there’s a jetski.
Taking these pictures made me feel like I was writing poetry. Something that we will be able to read tomorrow.
Marie Béchaux is a photographer and filmmaker from Bordeaux. After studying cinema at the ESEC, she became a documentary filmmaker specializing in films about neurological disorders, exploring the way we perceive things. She does the same in her photography. “With my film camera, I play with time, taking photographs older than myself.” Her poetic images give our era an eternal dimension.
