It was a self-funded project. It consists of street shots and portraits of people I met. The latter entrusted me with their daily concerns regarding events in Ukraine, their opinions about the future of Eastern European countries, freedom of speech, and the fear of a major international conflict.
I wanted to better understand the conflict and the differing opinions by doing fieldwork, and to be History’s witness by getting involved. Moreover, my experience in Ukraine was rewarding despite the risks taken. It was crucial to me to meet citizens who didn’t have the same opinions in order to get a neutral view regarding the issue. Hence, after having met several young citizens, who had or had not been present during the tragic nights of clashes, I decided to go to the heart of the conflict in the Donbass region and particularly in Donetsk.
Despite the daily threats, I could get the chance to mingle with and interview rebels as well as pro-Russian citizens. I didn’t forget to document citizens’ daily life in a struggling Ukrainian region and to understand the country’s unease.
Q&A with Thomas Girondel
Photography is…
I’m confiding myself through photography which I consider a lifesaver amidst that cruel world. It’s like being history’s witness.
Photography and writing…
I prefer being behind the lense than writing but captions and sentences are more than appreciable. Once you get the context, the photo is obviously more significant.
Who left the biggest impression on you?
Anders Petersen is definitely an amazing photographer. It’s devotion to analog photography and documenting people at the margins he met throughout the years is speechless.
Tell us a little about yourself
I’m 30, I’m a former natural disasters officer and I quit my job for being a documentary photographer. After documenting the conflict in Ukraine, it became crystal-clear I should henceforth focus on the living conditions of citizens in war zones as well as the freedom of speech in struggling countries than staying behind a desk… I’m already planning to hit the road again. But before, I’m working on an exhibition which will be held in Nantes, France in June 2015.
Thomas Girondel (website), 1985. French documentary photographer who’s just returned from Ukraine, where he spent several weeks documenting life in the midst of the current conflict. The social dimension of his work there as a chronicler bears witness to the precarious condition of a torn people in Kiev and Donetsk. It is matched by an artistic attention for detail and layout throughout analog cameras.
