We’re looking forward to introducing you to Svet Jacqueline. Check out our conversation below.
Svet, really appreciate you sharing your stories and insights with us. The world would have so much more understanding and empathy if we all were a bit more open about our stories and how they have helped shaped our journey and worldview. Let’s jump in with a fun one: What’s more important to you—intelligence, energy, or integrity?
In the work I do, Integrity is always the most important. In my opinion, integrity aligns itself with intelligence and energy. It requires moral honesty and compassion that makes a difference with every person or family I work with. Their stories require time, attention, understanding, and conducting my work with integrity and working with others who have it also, is the only way to do a story justice.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I am a documentary photographer raised in Baltimore, Maryland. I earned a Bachelor of Science in Photography from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. As a child adopted from Kirov, Russia, at a young age, my work focuses on the impact of trauma and displacement experienced by young adults in conflict zones. Before starting my career as a journalist, I was working as a commercial photographer in Los Angeles. The Pandemic pushed me toward documenting local and global issues in Mexico and the United States. I have been working in Ukraine since the start of the full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022. I am now a regular contributor to The Wall Street Journal and am currently represented by ZUMA Press and Leica Camera.
Great, so let’s dive into your journey a bit more. What’s a moment that really shaped how you see the world?
My first independent project was intimately photographing my friend’s mother, Judy, and her relentless fight against cancer. It started as a simple homework assignment and turned into a defining period of my young life. The relationship we developed was far more than just subject and photographer. As a single mother beating the odds of an incurable illness for over a decade, I became a second witness to her fight and a second support for whatever she needed. This body of work caught the attention of the National YoungArts Foundation, an institution that seeks out high school students who are gifted in various artistic disciplines and gives them mentorship and scholarship money for college. I went to Miami for a week, where I was surrounded by hundreds of young, passionate artists who were excelling in their fields. Not only did being a finalist provide validation for me as a relatively new photographer, but Judy passed away soon after I returned home. On that day, I realized the enormous impact a singular image or a story documenting the truth could have. I carry Judy’s light with me to this day.
Was there ever a time you almost gave up?
There are so many times. This field is not an easy one. It is competitive and painful, and you constantly question yourself as a storyteller. There are no handouts, and all you can do is keep working and putting yourself out there. It can be exhausting and uncertain. You are constantly facing rejection. In my early years, I struggled to find confidence in my visual approach and stability in the projects I wanted to pursue. Now, my largest burden is feeling like I am never doing enough. I am so committed to the work that giving up is not an option.
Alright, so if you are open to it, let’s explore some philosophical questions that touch on your values and worldview. What’s a belief or project you’re committed to, no matter how long it takes?
The landscape of the war in Ukraine is changing daily. As of September 2024, almost 1000 children have been killed in Ukraine- some have been tortured and their bodies burned. Others have sustained injuries from shelling and are spending birthdays and holidays in hospitals getting fitted for prosthetics. Thousands are accepting a new life of living underground, dreaming of a day when they can go back to school– or just to dance class. The rest, those who account for the over five million refugees who were forced to flee since the war started, are doing their best to assimilate in places that may never feel like home. As they grow older, some of them will be drafted into the war as young adults. Some will help raise the siblings whose parents died to protect, and some will never return to their childhood homes or cities again. I will continue to photograph their stories– the ones that emulsify the innocence that war destroys. As the world starts to turn away from the reports on the news and the headlines in the paper, this work demonstrates that the shadows of this period in history will follow us, reflected through the eyes and stories of Ukrainian children as they find a more permanent identity.
Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. When do you feel most at peace?
When I am photographing. It is more than a hobby or a career. Photography has ushered me through every stage of my life. It has taught me how to be more human. I turn to it when I am upset, when I am happy, when I am scared. I pick up my camera and start taking photos, and no matter what chaos exists internally or in the environment I am in, I find moments of stillness, of beauty, and peace.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.svetjacqueline.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/___svetj
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/svetjacque
Image Credits
Svet Jacqueline
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