Belarus in Faces (part XLIX): Photographer Ul’jana. Беларусь у тварах (частка XLIX): Фатограф Ульяна.
Belarusian friends introduced me to the name of Ul’jana Mjel’nik (Ульяна Мельнік) through a wonderful documentary on her work as a Polesian photographer by Belarusian filmmaker Jury Haruljou (Юры Гарулёў) and scriptwriter Vjachaslau Il’jankou (Вячаслаў Ільянкоў). A resident of the small village of Chamjaryn in the Pinsk District of Polesia, Granny Ul’jana recounted in the film how she had taken up wedding and portrait photography to make ends meet. The film showed a selection of her timeless portraits and photos of everyday life in her village and the surrounding districts.
At the time the film was made Granny Ul’jana was 85. No one I talked to in Mjensk knew whether she was still alive in 2012 but I wanted to try to meet her. A month ago, just before Easter, and accompanied by my guide to Central Polesia Tanja Pjetrusjevich, we drove to Chamjaryn and found Granny Ul’jana, now 89, as energetic and full of vivid stories as she had been in the film.
Chamjaryn 2012. Чамярын 2012 год.
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