Born in 1991 in Mykolaiv, Ukraine.
Serhii Melnychenko is a Ukrainian visual artist whose work bridges the realms of conceptual, staged, and documentary photography. He began his journey in photography in 2009 and less than a decade later became the first Ukrainian photographer to win the prestigious Leica Oskar Barnack Award Newcomer (2017, Berlin).
In 2018, at the age of 26, he founded the MYPH School of Conceptual and Art Photography (Mykolaiv Young Photography), which has since grown into a dynamic platform comprising a photography school, artist community, gallery, agency, publishing house, the magazine “525 by MYPH”, and the MYPH Photography Prize.
He has participated in over 200 solo and group exhibitions, fairs, and festivals worldwide, and has published 14 photobooks both personal and in collaboration with MYPH. He is also the organizer and curator of more than 60 exhibitions and projects featuring works by MYPH students across the globe.
Melnychenko is a member of the Ukrainian Photo Alternative (UPHA) and the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers (UAPP).
His accolades include:
- Leica Oskar Barnack Award Newcomer (2017, Berlin)
- Photographer of the Year (2012, 2013, 2016, Kyiv)
- Golden Camera (2012, Kyiv)
He has also been a finalist of Krakow Photomonth, Pinchuk Art Centre Prize, Off_Festival Bratislava, DEBUTS, Kolga Tbilisi Photo Award, Batumi Photodays, and others.
In 2020 and 2023, he was nominated for the Foam Paul Huf Award.
His participation in major international fairs includes Paris Photo, Volta Art Fair, Photo L.A., Photo Basel, and Unseen.
Melnychenko’s works are held in private and public collections across the USA, Hong Kong, Ukraine, Poland, France, Germany, Belgium, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Japan, the Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland, China, and beyond.
In 2022-2023, two of his series were acquired by the Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung (Munich), whose collection includes works by Robert Rauschenberg, Ai Weiwei, Nan Goldin, Ren Hang, Thomas Struth, Sebastião Salgado, Nadav Kander, Luo Yang, Pixy Liao, and others. In 2023–24, he was a recipient of the year-long “Alexander Tutsek Photography Grant”.
In 2022 he was selected to join FUTURES, the European photography platform, nominated by ISSP Gallery (Riga, Latvia).
In 2024, his series “Tattoos of War” became part of the permanent collection at the Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts (K*MoPA), Japan.
In 2025, he completed his second higher education, earning a Master’s degree in Culture and Arts, specializing in Audiovisual Art and Production, from the Kharkiv State Academy of Culture.
Previously, he graduated in Computer Systems Engineering from the Admiral Makarov National University of Shipbuilding (2008–2014). In his earlier years, he achieved the title of Master of Sports of International Class in ballroom dance (2005).
Since 2025, Melnychenko has also served as a nominator for the Leica Oskar Barnack Award.