Katia Motylova
Photography BA
Royal Academy Of Art The Hague KABK
Graduates: 2022
Specialisms: Photography / Storytelling
My location: Kyiv, Ukraine
Katia Motylova
First Name: Katia
Last Name: Motylova
University / College: Royal Academy Of Art The Hague KABK
Course / Program: Photography BA
Graduates: 2022
Specialisms: Photography / Storytelling
My Location: Kyiv, Ukraine
Website: Click To See Website
About:
Katia Motyleva is a Ukrainian photographer and video maker. She was born in 1988 in Luhansk, Eastern Ukraine. From a young age she witnessed the rapid change in the political context of Ukraine. Living through the collapse of the Soviet Regime, seeing the impact of Capitalist influence, and experiencing the effects of hybrid warfare between her country and Russia.
Her works explore topics such as «the woman’s role in society», gender stereotypes and representations of the female body in art. Katia works with archival images as well as traditional studio based photography - exploring obsession with socially constructed beauty standards and how political changes can affect the destiny of a woman. Her approach is often rooted in the feminist interest. She highlights the discomfort women are living through, directly drawing on her own experiences.
Through her work, Katia aims to open space for reconsidering the role of the woman. To confront the pressure to conform, acknowledging the twisted ideology of what it means to be a woman.
This project is a personal story about the war in Ukraine, the life of a woman and her family in the midst of hostilities. Events that began in 2014 with the occupation of Donbas have escalated into a full-scale war and continue to deteriorate, causing one loss after another. In the millstone of the unfolding drama, I continue to cling to what little remains, constantly going back to the lost photo album in search of an answer to the question of why it all happened?
