Marta Iwanek

Marta Iwanek is a Ukrainian-Canadaian photographer and filmmaker currently based in Toronto, Canada. Her work focuses on memory making, displacement and the playing with the physicality of the image itself. Growing up in the Ukrainian diaspora, family and community were a large part of her identity and play a strong role in her work. She is a three-time Canadian National Magazine Award winner and has been published in The New York Times, NBC, The Globe and Mail, Maclean's, The Canadian Press, the Toronto Star and many others. She currently teaches photojournalism at Toronto Metropolitan University in Toronto, Canada.

The project Raivka explores what it is like to come of age in a Ukrainian “internat” boarding school in the post-industrial region of Dnipro, Ukraine. Internat boarding schools in Ukraine were introduced during the Soviet Union as part of its centralized school system. The schools ranged in their organization – some were focused on certain academic streams, while others’ aims were focused on institutional or parental care. Growing up in boarding school forces these adolescents to be independent at a young age, a time of change and struggle. Moments seem to slip away, impermanent and constantly hanging from one day to the next. The nature and pace of Raivka acts as a counter to the temporal nature of these adolescents’ lives. In a country working for years to shed its Soviet legacy, and plagued by war since Russia’s invasion in 2014, Raivka provides a quiet glimpse into the lives of young people inheriting this legacy. Its deliberately slow work approach captures fleeting moments and subtle gestures.

Website: www.martaiwanek.com

Instagram: @martaiwanek

Twitter: martaiwanek