Sergey Melnitchenko- Behind The Scenes

Sergey Melnitchenko was born in 1991 in Mykolayiv, Ukraine. In 2015-2017 he lived in China, where he worked as a dancer with his team and is a member of UPHA - Ukrainian photographic alternative. Sergey started his photography in 2009 and for less than 10 years he has participated in more than 50 group and 10 solo exhibitions around the world.

He is the winner of Ukrainian and international competitions, including the Photographer of the Year 2012, 2013 and 2016 (Kiev, Ukraine), Golden Camera 2012 (Kyiv, Ukraine), one of the 10 finalists of the ShowOFF section within the month of photography in Krakow 2013, shortlist of "Pinchuk Art Center" 2015, and the last and very significant victory Sergey won in the annual award "Leica Oskar Barnack Newcomer Award 2017". Participant of “Paris Photo 2017”.

“Transvestites, girls bathing in tubs of beer, drunk actors and even more drunk visitors. All of this – club, the club where I’m working. One year has passed, since I came to Asia to work as a dancer. The last few months we have been performing in one Chinese club, which is more like a huge bar with a stage, because none of the visitors are dancing here. There was one moment where I realised there were many interesting things happening here and that is how the series Behind The Scenes was formed.

This is the reverse, the invisible side of the club, the atmosphere, a part of which I became. Behind The Scenes there is more burlesque than on the stage, the concentration of sexual fluids is more powerful than oxygen. There is no falsehood- it is not a scene, it is their everyday life, our life, or rather mine.”

Website: www.melnitchenko.com

Instagram: @sergey_melnitchenko