Life of LGBTQ Community in Ukraine (2017-)

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If you want to help, I gather donations for Ukrainian LGBTQ+ organisations and individuals, paypal me.
To buy a catalogue, please write an email at info@yanovska.comor message me on Instagram/Facebook
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Gender and sexual identity, androgyny, and belonging to a community have been my artistic focus for the past seven years. My latest project with stories of LGBTQ+ individuals in Ukraine, the country I was born and raised in, is the next step in that journey.

The Ukrainian LGBTQ+ community has been bringing the fastest change to Ukrainian society in recent years. Due to the ongoing war and the current russian invasion, the community has been facing extreme conditions for years, yet it managed to challenge the outdated traditional values in Ukrainian minds. The peaceful Pride Events in Kyiv and Kharkiv in the years 2022 and 2023; the ongoing change towards same-sex marriage; more and more LGBTQ+ soldiers on the frontlines coming out - all these things weren't something people believed possible even back in 2017 when this project was started.

Through this ongoing artistic documentary, I want to show the LGBTQ+ Ukrainians as strong and beautiful people, living their lives and being proud of what they do and who they are; as well as try and build a bridge between the LGBTQ+ community and the rest of the society.

It’s a precious gift to be allowed to document these peoples’ lives - and I will treasure it always.
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This photography series is part of a bigger project that includes a video documentary.
Video Part 1 (2022)

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Press (selected)

Изложбата „Отворена близост“ // Interview for Драгомир Симеонов, Darik Radio, 15. June 2022 // Sofia, Bulgaria
Изложбата “Отворена близост” на украинската фотографка Лана Яновска в “The Steps” // Bulgarian National Television // Sofia, Bulgaria

Sofia Pride Arts: Exhibition ‘Open Closeness’ // forbidden colours // Bruxelles, Belgium
Лана Яновска и отворената близост // https://atrakcia.bg // Sofia, Bulgaria
“Отворена близост – Животът на ЛГБТК+ общността в Украйна (2017-)“ от Лана Яновска // Single Step // Sofia, Bulgaria
Украинска фотографка с ЛГБТИ+ изложба в София // Actualno.com // Sofia, Bulgaria
Украинска фотографка гостува в София с изложба за ЛГБТИ хора в Украйна // Украински Вести // Sofia, Bulgaria

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Androgyny and abstract thoughts about absurdity of the term “femininity” are the central ideas of this ongoing project. Coupling bodies with mundane objects or putting them in abstract settings, I explore how it feels and what it means to be a woman, the complexity of emotions connected to absurd and unrealistic expectations of the womanhood.

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This project is planned as a book, but different parts of it can be excibited in various settings at any point.

In-between (2014-2016)

Visual exploration of my own androgyny, documentation of the appearance change while growing hair starting from 3 mm.

Work in progress.

Expectations play games with our perception. Familiar pieces, like a net of little details, put a filter on it and we see what the filter allows us to see.

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“Selective Perception” explores how differently people are perceived depending on partner standing next to them. In each pair of photographs, one of the couples is real another one is staged. In some cases, both couples were real at some point in their lives.

This series plays a guessing game with the viewer. It may start an inner dialogue and uncover some deep questions about themselves and their own filters.

Which couple is a real one? Which one looks staged? Which one looks more at ease with each other? Maybe both? There is no right answer at the end, so everyone is free to decide which couple looks “more real” to them.

Is this project about bisexuality or queerness? Or is it about our own filters and assumptions we force on the others?

For me, “Selective Perception“ is about viewer's expectations of sexuality, gender roles and norms. It is about how fast we put others in the boxes, based on our own background, presumptions and experience. For some, this series may become something entirely different.
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Laureate at DongGang International Photo Festival 2018 // Yeongwol, Republic of Korea

Special Mention at Pride Photo Award 2020 // Amsterdam, Netherlands

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Press
chonsun.com: Donggang International Photography Festival
Portraiture as an Expression of Cultural Identity. Emily Rose Larsen // Foto Femme United. Paris, France. www.fotofemmeunited.com

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Androgyny scares, baffles and fascinates at the same time. Androgynous people live between the polarities of a binary society: visually they fit neither the female nor male stereotype. Their dual natures coexist in each world like cross-faded images contained in one frame. Separating them into two classic genders makes this polarity visible and present while mirroring back the viewer's norms and stereotypes.

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Finalist at Emerald Winter Pride Art Awards 2018
Laureate at Festival ManifestO 2017
Finalist at Kuala Lumpur International Photoawards 2017 (open category)
Finalist at Hellerau Photography Award 2017
Winner of the 2016 PRIDE PHOTO AWARD - 1st 'Insiders / Outsiders' and  2016 Audience Award

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Press (selected)
NRC: Man of vrouw? // Netherlands
NRC: Er is zoveel meer dan man en vrouw, erken dat in de wet // Netherlands
Queer.de: Die Inszenierung von Geschlechterrollen // Germany
Newsweek Japan: Sexual and Gender Diversity // Japan
NBC News: International Photo Contest Highlights LGBTQ Diversity // USA
transgenderinfo: Yanovska wint publieksprijs Pride Photo
Portraiture as an Expression of Cultural Identity. Emily Rose Larsen // France

Visual poem about where I came from and where I belong.
Shot in Ukraine, Germany, Italy, Austria and India.

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"About India" originated in January 2011 during a two-month journey to India, and was presented for the first time in June 2012 as part of a group exhibition on the topic of being alien.

Originally I hail from Ukraine. Before I turned twelve, my family and I had to move a lot due to my parents' work. Upon turning 22, I left on my own for Germany to pursue university studies, and can therefore relate really well to what being alien means.

But the experience I had travelling by myself in India cannot be compared to anything. It's not just the people and their traditions that are different; the entire environment is being perceived differently, and the environment itself perceives you in a different way. You cannot simply drift with the current like in Central Europe and blend in with the crowd, you are seen as exotic and receive attention accordingly. It's new, it's alien, and you must learn to deal with it.

I took my time and let the country influence me - as I have always done in any society where I was new and alien. You must be ready to take off the Western world goggles and approach this country and its people attentively, with an open mind. This way, you can get to know the people, their families and lifestyle. You can drink chai with the sellers in a market place, visit new places by adventuresome train rides, listen to foreign music and learn to love it, you can forgive the screaming apes for waking you up in the morning. In short, you open up for all things new and fascinating, and one day, when you let it, when you don't shut yourself from it, you feel that you have finally arrived, that you're home... you are no longer alien.

Finished projects and music videos.