A life continued

“Interestingly, this is a self-portrait. We don’t really see that often in the competition. In Portraits, we discuss the issues of representation, how the photographer can portray a person in a sensitive, respectful way, and avoid them becoming symbols. Here, the person was able to make all the decisions for herself and she chose to portray herself in this way. She has no face. She is looking at the borscht but is not hungry. She seems contemplative, lost in thought, fearful. This photo evokes many feelings without actually showing someone’s face.

Also, it is beautiful as a photograph. There is the composition, the way the light enters through the curtain, the pop of color from the borscht.”

Whitney Johnson,

World Press Photo 2019 

General jury chair

“In this book, what matters here is not so much visual cohesion but tone — the artist’s attempt to find a voice capable of uniting such a broad array of images. From this, a form emerged: organic, unexpected and distinct from any prior narrative model… 

photography… allows us to experience — visually at least — the scene before us. And here, we are immersed in Alyona’s world, with its red hues, green shadows, and darkened rooms. Colours flare in the darkness, and we start to sense that what we are viewing is the essence of the photographer’s experience — that these images carry something of what once lived within her.”

Irina Chmyreva,

PhD in Art History, 

Member of AICA and ORACLE,

Art Director of the PhotoVisa International Photography Festival

“There are stories that open up the light of hope for us without softening the drama. Because when a person opens the door of their heart right in the 'heart of the storm'—amidst suffering and pain—and discovers that it is a door to the Kingdom of Heaven, such an experience is priceless. The inspiration we feel when reading these stories is bought at a high price: the person walks paths we would never wish upon ourselves. Bearing this price in mind, we should be all the more grateful to those who share their Story with us. A story of grief, illness, overcoming, and miracle.

Alena Kochetkova’s photobook, built from exquisite photographs and brief yet deeply meaningful textual commentaries, is precisely one of those stories. The story of an illness, resistance to it, treatment, a miracle, and the birth of a child becomes a story of hope and secret joy. This joy is not the antonym of 'suffering, ' nor is it a 'cure' for it; no, it permeates and illuminates everything, including the suffering itself.”

Egor Agafonov,

Senior Editor at the PSTGU Publishing House,

President of the Metropolitan Anthony of Sourozh Spiritual Heritage Foundation