Viktoria Sorochinski presents a poignant photographic exploration of place, memory, and identity in an exhibition on view at Pictura Gallery at the FAR Center for Contemporary Arts from February 7 through March 28, 2026. The photographs revolve around Poltava, a historic Ukrainian region whose quiet landscapes and reflective inhabitants become the foundation for a deeply human narrative. Rather than portraying events through statistics or headlines, Sorochinski focuses on the individuality of people who live within this cultural landscape, revealing lives filled with contemplation, creativity, and resilience.
Many of the portraits unfold as intimate encounters. In one image, a priest sits in a modest room beside a shelf of books. His presence suggests dedication and patience as he works to revive a centuries-old Orthodox church and renew the spiritual life of the community around it. The quiet intensity of his gaze transforms the photograph into something more than documentation; it becomes a moment of connection between subject and viewer. In another portrait, a man sits alone in his kitchen, absorbed in his own thoughts. The scene conveys a stillness that hints at the inner lives of individuals whose stories rarely appear in public narratives.
Sorochinski often pairs portraits with evocative landscapes, allowing one image to echo the mood or symbolism of another. A reflective pond filled with floating paper boats mirrors the arrangement of objects in a nearby interior photograph, suggesting that imagination and memory drift between physical spaces and mental worlds. These visual dialogues create a rhythm throughout the exhibition, inviting viewers to consider how personal reflections intersect with the wider environment of Poltava.
A sense of historical weight quietly permeates the work. An aging map with fragile borders appears alongside photographs of the land itself, reminding viewers that the lines drawn across paper shape real lives and territories. The region carries echoes of centuries of conflict, including the famous battle fought there in 1709, yet Sorochinski’s images remain grounded in everyday humanity rather than spectacle.
Born with Ukrainian roots and shaped by a multicultural life across several countries, Sorochinski approaches photography with sensitivity to cultural memory and displacement. Her photographs preserve fleeting details of a place whose identity continues to evolve, offering a thoughtful meditation on people, history, and the fragile continuity of community.
Image: © Viktoria Sorochinski
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