Vic Bakin – Epitome

Vic Bakin – Epitome – For Vic Bakin, ‘Epitome’ is a fairly personal visual journey. It is also an elaboration on the consequences and entanglements of war for a young generation of Ukrainian men. The series consists of pictures shot in war-torn places he visited between 2022 and 2023, as well as pictures printed from his own archive of previous years. While navigating the wounded land, he looks for a glimmer of hope in people and places. The prints, produced by Bakin in his bathroom in Kyiv during the Russian air raids, convey a distinct, delicate black-and-white tactility that resonates with the historical images from other wars in the past. Collectively, the entangled images create a personal visual poem exploring themes of fragility, beauty, masculinity, war and uncertainty.