Patricia Le Calvez

Ukraine 2009

Why did I go there?

Want to understand what Pascal and Morgan were telling me,

Want to add my own drop of water by testifying in my turn,

Want to confront myself by allowing myself to set up my own project thanks to the trust and support of my family, Pascal and Morgan,

Want to give, to share, to watch while trying never to position myself as a “voyeur” among the inhabitants of Volodarka,

Want to give children a voice through images.

[...]

With Morgan we spend an afternoon with some children who play in old clothes found in the attic. Sacha disguises himself and stars. Tola – a young man of 18 – looks at us. I decide to take my camera to immortalize this moment. Tola observes me, I feel in him the desire to look at my camera.

I put it around his neck and try to explain to him how it works (not easy without an interpreter). His face lights up, he is proud and that fills me with joy. He takes photos, looks at me. I am happy.

Vasya his friend also really wants to learn, I lend them 2 cameras with which they will leave one afternoon with the only constraint: “take images of the inhabitants of Volodarka”.

[...]

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