honorable mention
Olena Shved ukraine
title
Behind the Red Line
The theme I was always reflected on is inner world of persons working in extremal medicine, where daily work is closely connected with human suffering, pain and death as well as risk and high responsibility. This topic had not usually been widely discussed until the COVID -19 quarantine has focused peopleʼs attention on medical problems.
My series «Behind the Red Line» is about specifics of work in operating block, closed object, which entrance is marked by the Red Line. Anyone who crosses this line, whether he is a patient or a doctor, falls into the zone of inner anxiety, emotional and physical tension. Everything happening here resembles a theatrical scene, where the characters in sterile costumes and masks, armed with strange props, perform allotted roles. My aim was to open the veil to the "operation theater" and convey the specific atmosphere of the place, where doctor and patient walk together along the fine line between health and illness, life and death.
All the pictures of the series were taken directly during the surgical operations in 2018-2020 in clinics in Kiev (Ukraine), where I personally work as a surgeon.
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entry description
From my early childhood my dream was to become a doctor. My parents worked as intensive cardiologists and paradigm of their life and way of thinking inspired me to devote my life to medicine too. For the last 20 years I work as a vascular surgeon. It is often considered to be «non-female job» because of busy working day, high physical and emotional overload.The theme I was always reflected on is inner world of persons working in extremal medicine, where daily work is closely connected with human suffering, pain and death as well as risk and high responsibility. This topic had not usually been widely discussed until the COVID -19 quarantine has focused peopleʼs attention on medical problems.
My series «Behind the Red Line» is about specifics of work in operating block, closed object, which entrance is marked by the Red Line. Anyone who crosses this line, whether he is a patient or a doctor, falls into the zone of inner anxiety, emotional and physical tension. Everything happening here resembles a theatrical scene, where the characters in sterile costumes and masks, armed with strange props, perform allotted roles. My aim was to open the veil to the "operation theater" and convey the specific atmosphere of the place, where doctor and patient walk together along the fine line between health and illness, life and death.
All the pictures of the series were taken directly during the surgical operations in 2018-2020 in clinics in Kiev (Ukraine), where I personally work as a surgeon.
about the photographer
Olena Shved, was born at 1975 in Kyiv, Ukraine. I have graduated from National Medical University (Kyiv, Ukraine) and work as a vascular surgeon for the last 20 years. I became interested in photography about 2 years ago. I study at Kiev School of Photography. Years of work in surgical clinics made me think about special features of doctorʼs work, including risk, responsibility, absence the right to make a mistake. This experience pushed me to create a photoseries «Behind the Red Line».back to gallery