Julie Poly (real name Yulia Polyashchenko) was born in Stakhanov, Lugansk area, and is now based in Kyiv. Inspired by Boris Mikhailov’s projects and her education at Kharkiv School of Photography, she took her first pictures at the market in Kharkiv. Today, Julie Poly is among the most successful contemporary Ukrainian artists.
Poly’s art practice merges her previous experience in documentary and staged photography. The photographer interprets cultural and visual codes of typical Ukrainian everyday life, predominantly in the fields of eroticism, fashion, and novel notions of beauty. The artist states that she finds herself constantly inspired by “trivial things, everyday events, stories from lives of friends, and my own experience”.
Julie Poly’s exhibitions serve as a continuation to her artistic message. Her ‘mockumentarian’ and slightly grotesque projects often come back to the areas of their genesis, including exhibitions at a railway station (Ukrzaliznytsia series) or arcade centers (Kosmolot).
