Year: 2017-2018
Place: Donbas
Ukrainian artist, photodocumentist Alena Grom was born in Donetsk.The artist’s passion was street photography — dynamic and emotional. By this time Ms. Grom fulfilled her dream — built a house in which she celebrated a housewarming party in January 2014, but in April she was forced to leave her home and hometown due to military events in Donbass.
However, even after physically leaving her hometown, she did not leave it emotionally. Her region turned into a daily military chronicle, where the 24 hours were estimated at the number of killed and wounded, and her house was robbed and shot down by marauders. In such conditions photography has become a salvation for Ms. Grom and a way to escape from a traumatic reality.
Since 2015 the artist has studied in photography schools: she graduated from Bird In Flight School, the Victor Marushchenko Photography School, attended numerous lectures and master classes for photographers, art critics, cultural managers and curators. During her studies Ms. Grom began to think serially, each of her projects — a separate story — with a holistic narrative and drama.
Ms. Grom began to work with meaningful and complex topics that relate to her. A war-torn Donbass region, immigrants and refugees were the first to appear in the lens of her camera. However, her photos are not illustrations of pity or grief, they are an affirmation of life. Life against the odds — one of the main themes of the artist.
Alena Grom works at the junction of social reporting and conceptual photography. She works on her topics on the front line. The artist sees her “mission” in covering the lives of people who find themselves in a “gray zone” or a zone close to military action. With her every shot (a wordplay and reference to gun shooting) she targets propaganda and forms the image of the existing difficult reality. With her photographs, Ms. Grom tries to inform the world community about the complexities of military everyday life, tragedy of war and faith in the world. Alena Grom’s photography has been rated at many photo contests.
