The Museum and Exhibition Center of the Museum of Kyiv History presents the personal exhibition of landscape photography “Terra.Bifurcation” by renowned Ukrainian extreme photographer Serhii Tumasov.
“Terra.Bifurcation” is an exhibition of photographs about beauty, about life, about the energy of nature, about all the wonderful things that surround us on Planet Earth.
It is a return exhibition after a forced pause. The photographs presented were taken during the author’s pre-war photo expeditions, but have never before been shown to the public.
Serhii Tumasov’s works are unmistakable – rare shots, trophy photographs capturing unique moments of nature and the unrepeatable play of light on majestic landscapes. For many years, the photo artist reached the most remote places of the Planet to be filled with perfect harmony given to us by its creator, capturing the energy of the Universe and conveying it in his works. And he would have continued to do so, but… War came to Ukraine! And what can be more irrational than war? It destroys harmony, annihilates beauty, distorts perception, changes reality. War fills everything, and you become its hostage. Everything you think about, everything you do, is in one way or another connected with war.
Now Ukraine, defending itself and European values, is saving the world from chaos and destruction. And this very state of ours is called the critical point of bifurcation, when Ukrainians give their lives to preserve the beauty of the whole world and life on the Planet.
“Today I do not photograph beauty. Instead, I have to capture the horrors of war in my country. Burned and bombed houses, pain, the suffering of people who have lost their loved ones or homes. This, for me, is the split, the bifurcation. However, I do not want to show these shots, there are already enough of them in the information space lately. At this exhibition I prefer to show beauty, the world that must be protected. The world for which, at this very moment, desperate Ukrainians are fighting,” — says the author Serhii Tumasov about the title and concept of the exhibition.
At the exhibition, the viewer will feel the power of the majestic Himalayan mountains of Nepal and the Karakoram, marvel at the uniqueness of the coastal cliffs of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea, and be captivated by the beauty of the waterfalls of Iceland and Ukraine. Magical shots from the series “The First Ray”, where the morning sun barely touches the snowy peaks, will leave no one indifferent with their inner energy that seems to flow from the canvas.
The exposition of large-format and black-and-white photographs will immerse visitors in another world — the world of unexplored, fantastic nature, which must be preserved for ourselves and for future generations.
About the author:
Serhii Tumasov is a photo artist with more than 40 years of experience, an extreme traveler, and a lecturer at the Department of Photographic Art of the University of Culture and Arts in Kyiv. He holds four higher education degrees and a Master’s degree in Business Administration. He is currently working on a doctoral dissertation in the field of business development strategy.
He has crossed the Atacama Desert in South America, the Namib Desert, and the deserts of Western Australia alone, and has made several night ascents in the Himalayas and Andes to peaks of about 6,000 meters.
Serhii’s photographs have been recognized at prestigious international photo competitions such as the Epson Pano Awards and the International Loupe Awards. Many of them are part of private and corporate collections in Ukraine, Australia, the USA, Canada, and Western Europe.
With the beginning of russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Serhii became a volunteer and actively participates in providing humanitarian aid to refugees and residents of de-occupied territories. As an accredited journalist, he documents the crimes of russian invaders in Ukraine. During one of the volunteer missions in Kharkiv region, the car carrying humanitarian aid in which Serhii was traveling was shelled by russian forces. Serhii sustained severe injuries and is currently recovering.
Personal and Group Exhibitions (selected):
- Fine Art Ukraine, Mystetskyi Arsenal, Kyiv, 2011
- At the Edge of Oecumene, KIMO, Kyiv, 2011
- Exhibition at Gogolfest, Kyiv, 2012
- Parallel Worlds, Kyiv, 2014
- Repercursion, Tumasoff Gallery, Kyiv, 2014
- Art project by KPMG “Discover the Earth with Serhii Tumasov”, 2015
- Iceland Immersion, Tumasoff Gallery, Kyiv, 2015
- Terra.Inception, Museum of Kyiv History, Kyiv, 2016
- Terra.Timeless, KIMO, Kyiv, 2017
- Kyiv Photo Week, Kyiv, 2017, 2018, 2020
- Berlin Art Fair, 2022
- Children in War, Bratislava, 2022