Justyna Mielnikiewicz

Ukraine & Kazakhstan: The Sense of a Nation

© Justyna Mielnikiewicz

This is the story of two countries that freed themselves from the shackles of the Soviet Empire to rediscover the essence of their roots. After the Berlin Wall came down, some countries stay under Russian dominance while others, like Ukraine and Kazakhstan, sought to free themselves and rediscover the DNA of their countries and people. “Trying to decipher the meaning of the word ’nation’ is key to my work,” explains Justyna Mielnikiewicz, who was born in Poland but is Georgian at heart. She is a citizen of the world who has explored these two countries bordering Russia at length.

Two countries undergoing change, each in its own way. Ukraine redefines its geographical boundary between east and west since 2014 with the war between the Ukrainian state and pro-Russia separatist rebels in the Donetsk and Lugansk republics. The combat has already killed more than 10,000 people (fighters and civilians alike). The murky backdrop of this conflict is Russia’s annexation of Crimea in February 2014. “People often think that the Soviet Union was just Russia,” Mielnikiewicz explains. “But with the collapse of the Bloc, fifteen independent states emerged. And today, Russia refuses to let these newly independent countries go, because it is worried that they will be lured by Europe. It is constantly bearing down on them.” While Mielnikiewicz didn’t actually work ’in’ Russia, her various projects illustrate the former empire’s influence on the countries she visits. Like this picture showing a little girl in the company of her two grandmothers. One is Russian, the other is Kazakh. This is just one of the many stories told by Mielnikiewicz as part of a large mosaic in which a multitude of fates unfold. Individuals separated by different visions of History on different sides of the political debate, but who actually share a fundamentally common past.

The photographer is a member of the budding MAPS agency and is based in Tbilissi. She was awarded a W. Eugene Smith grant and won the 2015 Aftermath Project. Mielnikiewicz likes to focus on the cultural and ethnic diversity of these populations who lived for 70 years in a borderless Union, and explores how those republics, which became independent states, deal with constantly shifting spheres of influence –evolving over time. All of this has helped shaped national identify and reconstitute the essence of a nation.

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