Pavlo Mazai
(1980-)

Photographer
Lives and works in Kyiv (Ukraine)

In his life, as in his world, everything is fluid and everything changes. He was once a customs officer. But after 13 years of an unblemished career in customs, Pavlo chose the path of creation. His passion for photography became his calling. Crossing borders was in his nature. Neither doubts nor uncertainties hold him back… The walls, the noise, the chaos of the metropolis have no hold over Pavlo. His search for a “naked” truth often leads him into the unfiltered spaces of the modern world. The sincerity of his photographs speaks to an absence of the superfluous. His poetic, sensitive, and symbolically rich images stir deep feelings.
“Imagine: you are a poppy seed in an infinity. Its call is simply to be, not to influence — simply to see, not to change — simply to appreciate. The dictate of reality is not the law.”

His thirst for momentum, horizons, and ideas is a constant source of restlessness. This is how his recent series came into being: “Faces” Asia 2016, “Faces” France 2016, “Faces” Ukraine 2017, “Vakas” 2017, “Metric” 2018, “Pavlo’s Epistle” 2019, “The Ellipsis” 2019, “The Call of the Wordless” 2020, “The Sound of Wheat” 2021.
In Pavlo Mazai’s life, every moment is an eternity.