Last December, Mriya Publishing released an art album “Salty Dews,” dedicated to one of the most mystical folk holidays — Ivan Kupala. This is a collective project of photographers Kristina Podobed, Daria Svertilova, Anastasia Lazurenko, photographer Yevhen Volkov, and artist Sana Shakhmuradova-Tanska.
Today, a series of works that celebrates female beauty, sisterhood, and unity with nature is getting a new life in an exhibition format: “Salty Dews” will be presented on January 31 at the Kyiv gallery “Untitled”
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The exhibition “Salty Dews” is based on an artistic interpretation of the rituals of celebrating Ivan Kupala in Ukraine. This is not a reconstruction of the rite or an ethnographic fixation, but a sensual attempt to recreate the atmosphere of Kupala night – the heat of the bonfire, the dampness of the grass, the trembling of the night air, the closeness of bodies and nature, the erotic tension and the feeling of a moment in which the boundaries between reality and myth are blurred.
It was this state — semi-real, semi-mythical — that became the starting point for “Salty Dews.” The authors immediately abandoned the idea of documentary. “This is fiction inspired by documentary photography,” explains photographer Daria Svertilova. “We didn't want to reconstruct the ceremony literally. What was important to us was the mood, sincerity, and sense of unity.” The filming lasted four days in the summer of 2019, but the idea had been maturing for years among friends: “The creative tandem had formed long before the project, we had already been filming together and sharing ideas. “Salty Dews” was born from such conversations,” recalls photographer Kristina Podobed.
The filming took place in Dzembron, the highest mountain village in Ukraine, chosen not for its sacredness, but for the aesthetics of the shot. “The house we accidentally found on the top of the mountain became our place of strength. The owners helped and supported all our ideas, lent us embroidered shirts. There was an absolute synergy with the space,” the authors recall.
The heroines of the series were twelve women — friends, acquaintances, and girls who joined the project out of curiosity. “The center of my practice has always been a woman and her role,” says Kristina Podobed. “A woman manifests herself especially beautifully on Ivan Kupala. Being in nature, not embarrassed by nudity, creates a special moment of unity.” During the work, the participants were not asked to pose or recreate specific scenes: “We just climbed the mountain, lit a fire, and then everything developed spontaneously — like a performance,” say the authors. “The girls played themselves on an imaginary Kupala night.”
An important stage of the project was working with the material. There were so many images taken that the process of selection and layout stretched for almost five years. At a certain point, the authors realized that “Salty Dews” lacked another dimension. This is how the project included graphics and paintings by Sana Shakhmuradova-Tanska, which do not illustrate the photos literally, but rather enhance the feeling of mysticism and bodily experience.
Today, “Salty Dews” exists as a photo book and an exhibition project: in the Kyiv gallery “Untitled”, the series is presented in the format of a chamber exhibition, and from April 23 to 26, there will be an opportunity to see the exhibition in a different rhythm and scale at the Paris Sheriff Gallery.
The exhibition will last until February 23. Address: “Untitled” gallery, 17 Reitarska St. (entrance through the “Zbirka” bookstore)