Alina Smutko
documentary photographer
I'm a documentary photographer, photojournalist. Currently based in Kyiv, Ukraine.
An important part of my professional activities is visual storytelling and developing personal long-term projects, which are concentrated on ethnic, social, and religious conflicts, life in a post-conflict zone, historical memory, and national identity. The main areas of work are Ukraine, primarily Crimea and Donbas region, South Caucasus, and post-soviet countries. I also worked on a project on social issues, which connected with motherhood, orphan diseases, and palliative care.
Education:
2010-2014 – BA, Journalism, Poltava National Pedagogical University, Poltava, Ukraine.
2014-2016 – MA, Media Communication, School of Journalism, Ukrainian Catholic University, Lviv, Ukraine.
Internship:
2015 – Ukrainian office Radio Freedom Europe/Radio Liberty, Kyiv, Ukraine.
2015-2016 – photo department Ukrainian Office Thomson Reuters, Kyiv, Ukraine.
2016 – Deutsche Welle, Bonn, Germany.
Exhibitions:
2015 – the exhibition of The Day newspaper photo contest, Kyiv, Ukraine (collective).
2017 – «The Island C» in Crimean House, Kyiv, Ukraine (personal).
2019 – «The Island C» on Koktebel Jazz Fest 2019, Kyiv, Ukraine (personal).
2019 – «The Dream About White Socks» on Nikon Photo Contest 2019 exhibition, Tokyo, Japan (collective).
2020 – the exhibition with the LaVita Palliative Care Fund, Kyiv, Ukraine (personal).
2020 – the exhibition «Human Rights Situation in Crimea» at the Globsec Security Forum, Bratislava, Slovakia (collective).
2022 – «New hybrid deportation» in La Chambre, Strasbourg, France (personal).
2022 – «New hybrid deportation» at the First Parliamentary Summit of the Crimean Platform, Zagreb, Croatia (collective).
2022 – the exhibition at The CinEast Festival, Luxembourg City, Luxembourg (collective).
2022 - «New hybrid deportation» on The Fotofestiwal Łodz, Lodz, Poland (collective).
2022 - the exhibition of La-Presse.org in Leipzig, Germany (collective).
2022 – the exhibition at the Reynolds Journalism Institute at the University of Missouri, Columbia, USA (collective).
2022 – the screening at Centro de Fotografía de Montevideo, Montevideo, Uruguay (collective).
2022 – the screening of Georgian and Ukrainian war photography by Tbilisi Photo Festival, Tbilisi, Georgia (collective).
2022 – the exhibition Shoulder To Shoulder: Ukrainian War Photography in public places in Odesa, Ukraine (collective).
2022 – the screening of female Ukrainian photographers at the Sune Jonsson Centrum for dokumentarfotografi, Umea, Sweden (collective).
2022 – «New Hybrid Deportation» under the auspices of Graph CMI Association, Bram, France (personal).
2022 – «The Thin Line» at Safehouse 2 in Peckham, London, UK (collective).
2022 – the exhibition «The Thin Line» and screening of War Photography in Montpellier, France (collective).
2022 – «The Thin Line» in Ottensheim, Austria (collective).
2022 – the screening at The Bayeux Award festival, Bayeux, France (collective).
2022 – «Focus on Ukraine», Hoorn, The Netherlands (collective).
2022 – the exhibition at the Estacao Imagem festival, Coimbra, Portugal (collective).
2022 - “The New Abnormal” at PHOXXI, the temporary House of Photography of Deichtorhallen Hamburg, Hamburg, Germany (collective).
2022 – «The Thin Line» at The Copenhagen Photo Festival, Copenhagen, Denmark (collective).
2022 – the exhibition in VEMU Estonian Museum, Toronto, Canada (collective).
2022 – the exhibition in OKAPI Galerii, Tallinn, Estonia (collective).
Mentorship:
2022 – the mentoring program for young Ukrainian photographers on photographic storytelling by Odesa Photo Days and USAID, Kyiv, Ukraine.
Publications:
RFE\RL, OpenDemocracy, Deutsche Welle, BBC, Ostpol, Politico, Der Spiegel, Reuters, National Geographic, The Independent, Tygodnik Powszechny, KyivPost, UA PBC Suspilne News, The British Journal of Photography, Suddeutsche Zeitung Magazin.
Staff job:
2023 - currently - Thomson Reuters, Kyiv, Ukraine.
2021 - 2023 - UA PBC, Kyiv, Ukraine.
2016 - 2019 - Ukrainian office RFE\RL, Kyiv, Ukraine.
Work with NGOs:
2022 - BRC, London, UK.
2022 - Save the Children, London, UK.
2020 - LaVita Palliative Care Fund, Kyiv, Ukraine.
Awards:
2015 – the photo contest of The Day newspaper, Kyiv, Ukraine (shortlist).
2019 – one of the «12 RFE/RL Women Who Make Headlines», Prague, Czech Republic.
2019 – Corporate Photo Contest RFE/RL, Prague, Czech Republic (winner).
2019 – Nikon Photo Contest 2019, Tokyo, Japan (silver prize).
Email: alinasmutkoph@gmail.com