Chameleon Women from Ukraine

Alyona Sukhorukova - idea, images, body art, production, Aleksei Sukhorukov – photo, Olga Babich – photo, Elena Shvets - retouching

Most often people are remembered by their appearance or name. Some differ in their behaviour. Sometimes visible external differences are not so noticeable, although each person inside is unique and bright. One's environment influences the way one looks, acts and behaves, to the point of wanting to be like everyone else, fitting in with the external environment, suppressing, or hiding one's own desires and needs. But we are all very individual inside. Our inner differences are much greater than our outer ones. Internally, we don't adjust to the external background. Our inner background adjusts to our personality. We dissolve into our inner world because we create and shape it. This series of portraits is not an abstract art, but stories of specific people, with their destinies, characters and peculiarities. These are not portraits of professional models, but of the Ukrainian women who are passionate about something special (work, child, faith, painting, dance, songs, music...) or just ordinary women, each of whom is individual and unique. Ukrainian women are not only embroidered vestments and wreaths. Inside each of them is an original, beautiful and complex inner world. These works attempt to depict what can be hidden behind smart eyes or a pretty smile of Ukrainian women. All portraits are taken in Kiev from 2015 to 2022.