Andrew Rovenko


Andrew Rovenko is an Australian photographer of Ukrainian origin who is based in Melbourne. He is known for his award-winning Rocketgirl Chronicles series that was captured in Victoria's coronavirus lockdown. Rovenko was named 2021 Australian Photographer of the Year by the Australian Photography Magazine, as well as 2022 Australasia's Top Emerging Photographer by the Capture Magazine.

Early life and education

Rovenko was born and raised in Odesa, Ukraine and moved to Australia in his mid 20s. He was noticed for his amateur photography first, which led to him being invited to work as a freelance magazine photographer, where he gained professional experience before switching back to personal projects.

Rocketgirl Chronicles

The Rocketgirl Chronicles is a series of images featuring Rovenko's young daughter in a home-made astronaut suit designed by his wife. With the first photographs originally intended as family memories, documenting the daily walks within the permitted radius under the restrictions of Melbourne's prolonged lockdown, they quickly found resonance both locally and abroad, with high-profile publications including Vogue and Rolling Stone, being featured in exhibitions around the world and receiving multiple international photography awards.
The photograph from the series titled "The Shuttle" was selected as the cover for British Journal of Photography "Portrait of Humanity", a yearly publication of remarkable portraits from around the world.
With the author being a practitioner of traditional photography workflow, the series was captured on medium format film using Mamiya RZ67 camera.

The Book

The Rocketgirl Chronicles photography book was published in 2023, attracting acclaim winning 2024 Book Photographer of the Year at Px3 as well as being named Best Fine Art Publication at International Photography Awards and Tokyo International Foto Awards. It includes over 100 images from the project, with ABC news describing the photographs as "timeless and otherworldly".

Exhibitions

Awards

  • Siena International Photo Awards, 2025 – Creative Photographer of the Year
  • Xposure International Photography Awards, 2025  – Portrait Runner-up
  • International Photography Awards, 2024 – Book/Fine Art Winner
  • Prix de la Photographie Paris, 2024 – Book Photographer of the Year
  • Belfast Photo Festival, 2024 – Photo Book Winner
  • Percival Photographic Portrait Prize, 2024 – Finalist
  • Josephine Ulrick and Win Schubert Photography Award, 2024 – Finalist
  • Photometria Awards, 2024 – Finalist
  • CLIP Award, 2024 – Finalist
  • Tokyo International Foto Awards, 2003 – Book/Fine Art Winner
  • Px3, 2023 – Fine Art/People Winner
  • Hasselblad Masters, 2023 – Portrait Finalist
  • Analog Sparks, International Film Photography Awards, 2023 – Fine Art/Conceptual Winner
  • International Photography Awards, 2022 – 1st place / Analog / Film/Portrait
  • Tokyo International Foto Awards, 2022 – Fine Art Winner
  • Fine Art Photo Awards, 2022 – Conceptual Category Winner
  • ND Awards, 2022 – Fine Art/Conceptual Winner
  • Life Framer Award, Youthhood, 2022 – 2nd Prize
  • Australian Photography Magazine Photographer of the Year, 2021 – Overall Winner, Portrait Category Winner
  • Capture Magazine Australasia's Top Emerging Photographer, 2022 – Portrait Category Winner, Overall Runner-up
  • Bluethumb Art Prize, 2021 – Photography Category Runner-up
  • National Portrait Photographic Prize 2022 – Finalist
  • Kuala Lumpur International Photographic Prize 2022 – Finalist
  • Wyndham Art Prize, 2022 – Finalist
  • IMA Next, Japan, 2022 – Finalist
  • OptiKA Award, 2022 – Finalist