UKRAINE
Ukraine as we do not know it. The Hutsul Ukraine. The Ukraine of the last shepherds. Possibly one of the last regions worldwide where shepherds still herd their sheep in the traditional way. Every spring shepherds leave their homes to reach the best breeding places in the highest parts of the Carpatian Mountains on the Romano-Ukrainian border. They stay there for 4 months. On the map below you can see the apprioximate location of the Hutsul region.
It would be an exagerration if I said that I have taken beautiful photos there. Some places are just beautiful no matter who and how would like to capture them. The virgin Hutsul Ukraine certainly belongs to one of such places. Though, the cosequences of the growing industrialisation are not that visible there, still better living and working conditions in the cities lure young people. As a result, in the aging hutsul society less and less people can afford to keep and herd sheep. They give them away to the chosen ones who herd the sheep and in return provide the owners with products such as milk, cheese, meat, etc. The photos have been taken on two successive trips to Ukraine in October 2010 and February 2011. The trips were part of the documentation to a documentary project about the last Ukrainian shepherds - Vivchari.
It would be an exagerration if I said that I have taken beautiful photos there. Some places are just beautiful no matter who and how would like to capture them. The virgin Hutsul Ukraine certainly belongs to one of such places. Though, the cosequences of the growing industrialisation are not that visible there, still better living and working conditions in the cities lure young people. As a result, in the aging hutsul society less and less people can afford to keep and herd sheep. They give them away to the chosen ones who herd the sheep and in return provide the owners with products such as milk, cheese, meat, etc. The photos have been taken on two successive trips to Ukraine in October 2010 and February 2011. The trips were part of the documentation to a documentary project about the last Ukrainian shepherds - Vivchari.
Trailer of the documentary project Vivchari dir. Ostap Kostyuk:
© Victoria Tucholka