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Curator Statement by The Black Snapper

Reading Anna’s story about this village of twins, I keep thinking “but how is this possible?” The story is almost too fantastic to believe and I mean that in a good way. What an extraordinary situation, what a beautiful small fairy tale set in real life. This is also where my only point of criticism lies. To me, the mystifying aspects of the story set forth in the testimonial do not come to life fully in the photo essay yet. This does not mean that her essay is bad. On the contrary, I think it is really good. Anna manages to come very close to her subjects, there is a lot of intimacy in these photographs and the more staged settings mix very well with the ones where she wasn’t in control that much. But I am so intrigued by this story that I would love to see more of the emotional undercurrents that the testimonial has me craving for.

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Selected by Alexander Glyadyelov on December 4, 2009 | Tag: Asia, daily life, documentary photography, human interest, twins, Ukraine | Share/Save

5 Comments so far

Add Your Comment

emiliano said: 2009.12.04 16:08

Great concept, interesting photography and a good, very good “message” into these important words:
“Is it possible to inspire the rest of society with the relationships and love between these twins?”..
Brava Anna! And bravo the curator as well :)
Margo said: 2009.12.04 18:59

Inspiring. Nothing but love is what it shows. Beautiful.
Nil said: 2009.12.05 00:45

A set of photos radiating warmth, closeness – something I see so rarely in our techno world these days…

Thanks for showing it still exists :-)
kolouker said: 2009.12.05 14:18

Fantastic!
jos said: 2009.12.05 23:34

i love the one with the ‘married’ young couple
good work

Your Comment

This Is A Good Place

Anna Voitenko (Ukraine, 1979)

Kiev, Ukraine

I was looking for a community of people that does not suffer from loneliness. Searching for a perfect understanding between two people, I found an unique multicultural village in Ukraine where an extraordinary number of identical twins have been born. These people have never felt lonely except in the event of losing their other half: brother or sister.

These twins live in a completely perfect climate of understanding and love which has been created by themselves. The relationship between twins affects the whole community of the village, setting the tone for kindness. The villagers aren’t rich and their life is a one filled with hard work. But there is almost no aggression, oppression and hatred.

At the moment, there are sixty identical and fraternal twins in this village. After Ukraine declared its independence, virtually all the mothers in the village gave birth to twins. Locals honestly believe the reason for this is the drinking water. The entire village drinks spring water from the local Chorniv River. It is the only village like this in the whole of Europe. The twins were born there. Some of them still drink breast milk; others go to school, the elder twins work, and the eldest twins look after their grandchildren. They never part from each other, during their whole life. When they start a family they build their house next door. Their children are friends. Even if the twins are separated by fate they don’t lose their spiritual bond with each other. Their fortunes are similar even if they are separated by thousands of kilometers from one another. But twins very seldom separate. A lot of them live their whole life in their native land.

This is a good place. I take pictures of them in the place where they live, trying to catch the true inwardness that preserves twins from the existential sadness and depression that is so characteristic of us nowadays. Is it possible to inspire the rest of society with the relationships and love between these twins? I’m trying to answer this question, taking a good look into the eyes of these people, who are almost certainly identical, not just from the outside, but on the inside as well.

Anna Voitenko on the web: annavoitenko.com

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