Jana Romanova

Born in St. Petersburg in 1984, the Russian photographer Jana Romanova's work deals with political tensions and crises surrounding cultural independence and the post-Soviet Union era, as well as the commonalities between Russia and the Ukraine. Her work is often defined by the contrasts between opposing political positions, with an attempt at a playful reconciliation.

Romanova is, above all, a portrait artist and uses the interaction with those she portrays for her work. At the Maidan in Kiev, Romanova asked people from different political directions for words that are consonant in both the Russian and Ukrainian languages, and asked the protagonists to imagine those words as defining the imagery for a portrait photo. The selection resulting in "The Alphabet of Shared Words" is full of surprises and shows, next to sporadic patriotically-loaded words, the commonalities of language and culture shared by these political adversaries.

Further information at: Photomuseum