MEET THE ARTIST
MARYNA OVERCHUK
This month, we spoke with Ukrainian photographer and new LUMAS artist, Maryna Overchuk, an artist whose lens captures not just bodies in motion, but the emotional undercurrents beneath. With roots in drawing and a deep command of light and structure, Overchuk’s photographs transcend the visual. They linger. They breathe. Her work evokes a softness that speaks volumes. In this exclusive interview, we explore the grace, discipline, and feeling behind her weightless visual poetry.
Enjoy The Discovery,
Alaa Mamdouh
Art Consultant, Toronto
416-928-9200
Q&A WITH MARYNA OVERCHUK
Q. Tell us a little about yourself and what inspired you to take up photography.
MO. I was born and raised in Kyiv, Ukraine, where art has always been a deep part of my life. Since I was six, I have been exploring the world through drawing and light. Studying at art school gave me a solid foundation in composition, color, and form — tools that still guide me today. Photography entered my life as a way to capture reality, but quickly turned into a full language of self-expression. At 19, I decided to fully dedicate myself to photography. It allowed me to combine everything I love — light, movement, emotion, and storytelling, into one frame.
Awakening Petals | Edition of 150, signed, available in three sizes
Q. Your works often feature ballerinas, emphasizing the beauty of the human form and movement. What attracts you to this theme?
MO. Movement, especially the language of ballet has always fascinated me. There is something deeply honest in how a dancer tells a story without a single word. The elegance, discipline, and emotional depth of ballet allow me to explore both vulnerability and strength of the human spirit. Through photography, I try to freeze these expressive moments and turn them into visual poetry. For me, the dancer’s body is not just an object but an instrument through which emotion, inner light, and narrative unfold.
Dance of the Petals | Edition of 150, signed, available in three sizes
Q. Your new series for LUMAS ‘Dusty Rose’ was created in collaboration with Ukrainian ballerina Kseniia Dronova. Tell us a bit about the shoot.
MO. This series is very intimate for me. I created it with Ksenia Dronova , a wonderful Ukrainian ballerina with whom I had worked creatively with before 2022. Her presence in the frame is vulnerable and deep; she dances not just with her body, but with emotion.
The shoot took place in a studio, a minimalist, quiet space where we could fully focus on movement, light, and feeling. I used only a single source of light — soft, diffused, shining from the side — to create an effect of a natural, embracing illumination. It didn’t highlight, it enveloped. The atmosphere was silent, and this silence allowed us to enter a state of inner listening. To animate the fabric, I used a fan, a light stream of air that made the material breathe, sway, and live its own life in the frame. It felt as if the fabric became an extension of Ksenia herself, of her body, emotions, and energy. It wasn’t just an accessory, it became a voice. The colour, dusty rose is more than just a hue. It’s a state of being, a memory, an emotion. It embodies something fleeting and profound — nostalgia, softness, quiet strength. Through it, I wanted to express not a woman’s appearance, but her internal state — delicate, strong, silent, emotional.
I envisioned each shot as a brushstroke and not a fixation of reality, but a living line, full of movement, sensation, and intention. Ksenia’s gestures, the flow of the fabric, the light, they worked together as one. It wasn’t about staging; it was about presence. I wasn’t interested in beauty as decoration, but in the body as a vessel of the soul. Not the pose, but the presence. I wanted to capture a moment when a woman is not performing, not showing, but simply being. And this “being within herself” is the most powerful thing. Each frame is an attempt to preserve a moment of transformation — when the body, fabric, and light merge into one living image, creating an emotional landscape — like a brushstroke painted from within.
Muted Glow | Edition of 150, signed, available in three sizes
Q. Your new series for LUMAS ‘Dusty Rose’ was created in collaboration with Ukrainian ballerina Kseniia Dronova. Tell us a bit about the shoot.
MO. This series is very intimate for me. I created it with Ksenia Dronova , a wonderful Ukrainian ballerina with whom I had worked creatively with before 2022. Her presence in the frame is vulnerable and deep; she dances not just with her body, but with emotion.
The shoot took place in a studio, a minimalist, quiet space where we could fully focus on movement, light, and feeling. I used only a single source of light — soft, diffused, shining from the side — to create an effect of a natural, embracing illumination. It didn’t highlight, it enveloped. The atmosphere was silent, and this silence allowed us to enter a state of inner listening. To animate the fabric, I used a fan, a light stream of air that made the material breathe, sway, and live its own life in the frame. It felt as if the fabric became an extension of Ksenia herself, of her body, emotions, and energy. It wasn’t just an accessory, it became a voice. The colour, dusty rose is more than just a hue. It’s a state of being, a memory, an emotion. It embodies something fleeting and profound — nostalgia, softness, quiet strength. Through it, I wanted to express not a woman’s appearance, but her internal state — delicate, strong, silent, emotional.
I envisioned each shot as a brushstroke and not a fixation of reality, but a living line, full of movement, sensation, and intention. Ksenia’s gestures, the flow of the fabric, the light, they worked together as one. It wasn’t about staging; it was about presence. I wasn’t interested in beauty as decoration, but in the body as a vessel of the soul. Not the pose, but the presence. I wanted to capture a moment when a woman is not performing, not showing, but simply being. And this “being within herself” is the most powerful thing. Each frame is an attempt to preserve a moment of transformation — when the body, fabric, and light merge into one living image, creating an emotional landscape — like a brushstroke painted from within.
Awakening Petals | Edition of 150, signed, available in three sizes
Q. What do you want viewers to feel or take away after seeing your works?
MO. I hope my work evokes a quiet emotional response. Something personal that stays with the viewer. I want them to feel something beyond words: a memory, a mood, a breath of silence. My goal is not just to show a beautiful image but to invite the person into an emotional space where movement, light, and texture form a story to be lived. For me, photography is emotional truth, a silent connection between the subject and the viewer.
Dusty Tenderness | Edition of 150, signed, available in three sizes
Q. What are you currently working on? Tell us about your new projects.
MO. Right now, I am working on several series’. One project explores the combination of nature and ballet. The harmony of human movement in wild landscapes. Another is a conceptual project combining a ballerina and a knight — softness and strength, grace and protection. I am also working on a series dedicated to male ballet, which is less often highlighted in visual art.
Another deeply personal project is inspired by the work of Lina Kostenko, the eminent Ukrainian poet, writer, dissident, and member of the Sixties generation. Her poetry inspired me to create a series of photographs where body and movement transform into the image of a bird in flight, a metaphor for freedom, fragility, and the resilience of the Ukrainian spirit. It is a poetic visual narrative where every gesture becomes a poem in motion.
Each of these projects is an emotional and visual journey deepening my reflections on identity, form, and transformation.
Q. If you had to describe your creative path in three words, what would they be?
MO. Emotional. Resilient. Evolving.