Kirill Golovchenko was born 1974 in Odessa, Ukraine. From 2002 until 2007 he studied photography by Darmstadt University of Applied Sciences in Germany. After been supported in the last two years of his studies by Barbara Klemm in the meantime the interest in the work of Kirill Golovchenko grows more and more. He got the Award of Documentary Photography by the Wuestenrot Foundation for the his work 7km – Field of wonders. Further he got the DAAD Scholarship and VG Bild-Kunst Projekt Scholarship for the new project The Ukrainian Breakthrough. Also invitations to a solo and couple of photo exhibitions, and at least in 2009 the printing of the book 7 km- Field of wonders by Snoeck Publisher (Germany) was friendly supported by the Stiftung Kunstfonds.
The Ukrainian breakthrough is a new political program of the Ukrainian government which has the slogan: “The Ukrainian breakthrough: for people, not for politicians.” In the program one finds the following statement: “This is a program of the strategical development of the Ukraine … of the progress for the whole country. Not for some ministers or the department of the executive, but for everyone, for every citizen. The Ukrainian breakthrough – a basic law to promote affluence for our country … a signpost for the land in the 21-st century”.At the moment the Ukraine is in the transformation phase and is changing economically as well as socially. The downfall of the Soviet Union and the political and economic changes that have occurred since then triggered off a basic social change. Within the last 17 years, extreme social differences have developed among the population. For the well-to-do their wishes and dreams have been fulfilled, for the deprived only the hope remains that they might lead a better life some day.
I have looked for situations and moods which show me not only the new side of the Ukraine. Although since the independence of the Ukraine 17 years have passed, the people have not yet succeeded to escape from the old socialist thinking patterns. And everything they think and act carries the tracks of this past. Or, to put it differently, it´s still shining through.
It is said: One cannot buy taste. Very often it seems as if people tried to impose the things they see abroad on the Ukraine. Thus the people try to realize their visions. The idea that it must be unusual, new, different is feasible. Everything else seems to be for sale, interchangeable, adaptable. And then, unfortunately, it looks like a copy of the copy of the copy. But it is a search just after the new identity.
