Dymchuk Gallery, as an official partner of the project, presents an exhibition of the finalists in the MYPH PHOTOGRAPHY PRIZE 2025 open competition, established in 2024 to support young Ukrainian photographers with up to five years of active practice.
This year, the competition once again attracted hundreds of applications from Ukraine and around the world, from which an international jury selected eight finalists:
Anastasia Lelyuk
Anya Tsaruk
Dara Petrova
Elena Kalinichenko
Yegor Gushchin
Maria Girlaciu
Mark Chegodayev
Oleksii Charei
The MYPH PHOTOGRAPHY PRIZE is not only a competition, but also a launching pad for the careers of young artists, helping to shape a new generation of Ukrainian visual art.
This year’s prizes include contracts to sell works to the Grynyov Art Collection, membership and candidate status in the UAPP — Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers, collaboration with the Spilne Art platform, 15,000 UAH in support of women photographers from Ivanna Bertran, book selections from Creative Publishing and MOKSOP, as well as other awards.
Jury:
Victoria Myronenko — photography historian, lecturer
Roman Pyatkovka — photographer, lecturer
Natasha Tkachenko — art consultant, founder and CEO of Spilne Art
Thomas Dvorak — documentary photographer with Magnum
Boris Grynyov — collector, poet, materials scientist, academician
Mark Wilkins — director, screenwriter
Anastasia Manulyak — head of the Visual Arts Department at the Ukrainian Institute
Steve Bisson — photography teacher, curator, writer
Ksenia Malykh — art historian, curator, contemporary art researcher
Anna Avetova — curator, art manager
Competition organizers:
Serhiy Melnychenko
Ivanna Bertrand
MYPH School of Conceptual and Art Photography
MYPH
The School of Conceptual and Art Photography MYPH was founded in 2018 by Sergey Melnichenko in Mykolaiv. Over the past six years, more than 300 students have graduated from MYPH, and an active community of alumni has formed, which currently includes more than 100 authors in Ukraine and abroad.
The main focus of the MYPH is to deepen the understanding of contemporary conceptual and art photography. During the study, Sergey Melnichenko, with invited lecturers, shares his artistic experience with students, methods of promotion, and career development in art.
Since 2018, the MYPH has organized and participated in more than forty projects: exhibitions, festivals, and fairs in Ukraine, Poland, Italy, Germany, France, Austria, Hungary, the Netherlands, the USA, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and others. A large number of works by students of the MYPH are in prestigious private collections outside Ukraine.