The Saatchi Gallery in London has opened an exhibition of contemporary Ukrainian photography called FUTURESPECTIVE, initiated by the Vogue Ukraine team in partnership with PhotoVogue. Until November 16, in the heart of the UK capital, you can see the works of 34 photo artists. who tell sensual and insightful stories about modern Ukraine.
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Works by 34 Ukrainian photographers in central London
The FUTURESPECTIVE exhibition is a unique opportunity to see in the heart of London what contemporary Ukrainian art is and what a new generation of Ukrainian photo artists is talking about. Young and already well-known photographers from Kyiv, Odessa, front-line Kharkiv, currently occupied Luhansk, Melitopol and other Ukrainian cities explore the themes of youth, hope during war, identity and memory through photography.
An opportunity to learn what modern Ukraine is like
The stories behind the exhibition’s exhibits help an international audience better understand what today’s Ukrainian youth are going through. The heroes of Odessa-based photographer Daria Svertilova’s photographs are young boys and girls growing up during the war. At the FUTURESPECTIVE exhibition, the photographer, who lives between Kyiv and Paris, presents photographs from the series “Temporary Home,” created in Kyiv in 2021–2023. In it, Svertilova explores the student dormitories of the Ukrainian capital — a symbolic space of transition from adolescence to adulthood. Some of them were damaged during the Russian shelling of Kyiv.
“Silent” stories about war
Although the photographs do not depict war literally, its presence is palpable in many of the shots. For example, the work “Serhiy and Oleg” (2023) by photographer Ani Brudna is a portrait of Serhiy, who now serves in the National Guard of Ukraine, and his newborn son. Before the full-scale invasion, Serhiy worked as a model, but like many Ukrainians, he abandoned his previous life for the sake of a future in which his child could live in a free and peaceful country.
A sensual view of the world
The works presented at the FUTURESPECTIVE exhibition are distinguished by a sensual and poetic view of the world. Alina Prisich, a 27-year-old photographer originally from the currently occupied Luhansk, sees the world with a childlike immediacy: the work from the Tatko series (2022), shot in the Carpathian village of Verkhovyna, explores the fragile balance between childhood and adulthood, tenderness and strength. The gesture of the father placing his hand on his daughter’s head resembles a veil — a sign of protection and care. This personifies the experience of an entire generation of children whose parents are now forced to defend their home and country from the Russian enemy.
Saatchi Gallery is one of the most popular galleries in London
Saatchi Gallery, founded in 1985 in the bohemian London district of Chelsea by Charles Saatchi, is one of the city's leading galleries. Over the past 40 years, the gallery has exhibited the most famous artists of our time: Swae Twombly, Damien Hirst, Tracey Emin. According to a survey by the authoritative publication The Art Newspaper, over the past five years, the Saatchi Gallery has held ten of the 15 most visited exhibitions in the British capital.
One of the gallery's missions is to discover new names in the world of contemporary art, so it is especially symbolic that until mid-November, within the walls of the Saatchi Gallery, on the first floor of the gallery, you can also see the works of Ukrainian artists.
The exhibition features both new names and regular contributors to Vogue Ukraine. Many of the featured authors are participants in the global FUTURESPECTIVE photo call, which the editorial team held this year. The jury of the competition included world-renowned photographers Brett Lloyd and Carlin Jacobs, art directors Ezra Petronio and Lana Petrusevic, global creative director of Vogue Raul Martinez, art director of PinchukArtCentre Bjorn Geldhof, director of the Ukrainian Museum in New York Peter Doroshenko, and head of the Global PhotoVogue program and director of the PhotoVogue Festival Alessia Glaviano.
The project was implemented with the support of the Embassy of Ukraine in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, PhotoVogue, Kernel and LEX by Nemiroff, and The Natalia Cola Foundation.
The FUTURESPECTIVE exhibition will run at the Saatchi Gallery from October 23 to November 16, 2025.