DEBALTSEVO, WHERE ARE YOU?

Book / exhibition / audio-documentary

What does it mean when you have roots in different countries? What are the stories that are known and what is there to find out? Debaltsevo, Where Are You? is a personal story about the fascinating and elusive search for your heritage.

Photographer Karine Zenja Versluis (NL) started her own quest in 2013 when she decided to explore her family history in the city of Debaltseve, Donbas, Ukraine. The place where her grandmother was born. Along the way, for more than ten years, everything went differently than expected. The quest became the common thread in the story. 

A story told from different perspectives. We follow the history of her grandmother, who was forced to leave Debaltseve (Debaltsevo in her grandmother’s memories) and work in a German labor camp during World War II. We get to know three Ukrainian families who, due to another war, escaped the city of Debaltseve in 2015, and in 2022. And we travel with the narrator herself, from the Netherlands to Ukraine, in search of a city. 

During this journey, Versluis asks herself how her grandmother’s story influenced her own life. Constantly overtaken by current events her plans change again and again, symbolizing the puzzling search for her own identity. The work consists of archival images, photographs and texts in English, with an online available Dutch and Ukrainian translation.

(In Dutch): Laura Stek maakte 2DOC de prachtige radio-documentaire Debaltsevo, waar ben je? over de zoektocht van het project. Te luisteren via deze link.

Ook is er een extended version gemaakt: Terug naar de Donbas voor het programma OVT (Het Spoor terug) op radio 1 waar naast Karine Zenja versluis oud-voetballer Evgeniy Levchenko vertelt over persoonlijke ervaringen uit zijn jeugd en familie en zijn band met Oekraïne. Terug te luisteren via deze link.

PUBLICATION
Book
Publisher: The Eriskay Connection
First edition: February 2023

AWARDS & NOMINATIONS
- Top 10 best photobooks of The Netherlands 2023 by Volkskrant
- Top 10 most beautiful photobooks on The Netherlands 2023 by by NRC
- Shortlisted for Arles, Les Recontres de La Photographie Book Awards 2023. Category Photo-Text Book Award). (FR) - Best Dutch Book Designs (studentjury) 2023

EXHIBITION - Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. As part of the Best Dutch Book Designs 2023. (October 19, 2024 - January 5, 2025) - Revela’t International Festival of Photography, Barcelona (ES). 2024
- Les Recontres De La Photograhie, Arles (FR) as part of the shortlisted book awards. Monoprix, Arles. 2023
- Openbare Bibliotheek Amsterdam (OBA), Oosterdok. 2023
- Bibliotheek Utrecht (Neude) organized by FOTODOK about Ukrainian photobooks. 2023
- Whispers and Shouts, FOTODOK, Utrecht. 2023
- Framer Framed, Amsterdam. 2023
- Kolga Tblisi Photo Festival (GE). 2020 (preview)

PRESS - PF Fotografie Magazine. Interview by Diana Bokje. Edition 6, 2024. - NRC. Wat zijn de tien mooiste en indrukwekkende fotoboeken van 2023? By Rianne van Dijck. - Volkskrant. De beste Nederlandse fotoboeken van 2023. By Merel Bem.
- Straatnieuws Den Haag/ Rotterdam (2023). Interview by Tanya van der Spek
- VICE Netherlands. Interview by Amarens Eggeraat. 2023
- Bird in Flight (UA). Interview by Daria Kasianova. 2023 - MM and words magazine. (UK). Women from Ukraine. Edition 2, 2023.
- Villamedia De Schepping. Je komt altijd aan, maar ergens anders. 2023
- Leica Fotografie International (DE) by Ulrich Rüter. 2023
- Parool. Interview by Jocelyn Vreugdenhil. 2023
- NRC. Interview by Rianne van Dijck. 2023
- FD (Financieel Dagblad). Interview by Jeroen Bos. 2023
- Mezza. Interview by Mark van Asse. 2023
- Volkskrant. Article about the FOTODOK exhibition in by Mark Moorman. 2023
- Zout Magazine. Review by Christiane Gronenberg. 2023
- Wordt Vervolgd, Amnesty International Magazine. Interview by Rosa Luna van Crevel. 2023

RADIO DOCUMENTARY
- Debaltsevo, Waar Ben Je? a podcast made by Laura Stek voor DOCS/ NPO2 (vpro)
- Terug naar de Donbas by Laura Stek (in Dutch) in collaboration with Evgeniy Levchenko. OVT, radio 1 Het Spoor Terug (vpro) February 19, 2023 (extended version).

WORKSHOP -Kolga Tblisi Photo. Workshop about Dutch Photobooks and the making of, of Debaltsevo, Where Are You? (GE). 2024

REVIEWS
“Versluis has succeeded in creating an exciting testimony to her time, which, with its mixture of old family pictures, contemporary portraits, letters and texts, poignantly presents the importance of family and of history.”
Ulrich Rüter, Leica Fotografie International.

“A beautifully, sensitive and personal account of a search for her roots.”
Rianne van Dijck, NRC

“What started in 2013 with personal questions to her demented grandmother has grown into a large project in which the photographer tries to get closer to Debaltsevo in circumferial movements.”
Merel Bem, Volkskrant

CREDITS
Concept, photography & text Karine Zenja Versluis
Archival photos from the 1970s Dick Versluis
Graphic Design Jeremy Jansen
Publisher The Eriskay Connection
Interviews Iryna Kyporenko, Kateryna Levchenko
Image editing Femke Lutgerink, Jeremy Jansen, Karine Zenja Versluis
Text editing Tanya van der Spek, Enne Koens
Translations Colleen Higgins, Isabella Rozendaal, Kateryna Levchenko
Lithography Marc Gijzen
Financially supported by AFK (Amsterdam's Fonds voor de Kunst), Creative Industries Fund NL, Framer Framed, Prins Bernhard Cultuur Fonds Noord Holland, Stichting Stokroos, Stichting Sem Presser Archive, Stroom Den Haag. Voordekunst, ZOZ Fonds

Publication in NRC. Hun verhalen zijn mijn herinneringen. Om het gehele artikel te lezen. Klik hier.