Serhii Melnychenko

Serhii Melnychenko is a Ukrainian photographer, teacher, curator, dancer, master of sports of the international class in ballroom dances. Founder of the school of conceptual and art photography MYPH. Member of the creative association Ukrainian Photographic Alternative, Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers.
In 2017, he became the first Ukrainian to receive the German Leica Oskar Barnack Award Newcomer.

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Biography

Since his teenage years, he has been performing abroad, in particular in China.
In 2014, graduated from the Admiral Makarov National University of Shipbuilding with a specialization — computer systems engineer.
With the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022, he began volunteering.
In 2025, he obtained his second higher education degree, receiving a master's degree in culture and arts with a specialization in "Audiovisual Arts and Production" from the Kharkiv State Academy of Culture.

Creativity

Started photography in 2009.
In 2012, he rethought his own approach to artistic practice after communicating with Roman Piatkovka, a representative of the Kharkiv School of Photography.
In 2018, at the age of 26, he founded the MYPH School of Conceptual and Art Photography, which has since evolved into a dynamic platform that brings together a photography school, an artist community, a gallery, an agency, a publishing house, the magazine "525 by MYPH", and the MYPH Photography Prize.
Author of the series Schwarzenegger is my idol, Polaroids from China, From Dusk till Dawn, Passengers, Young and Free, Fundamental Space Explorations of Naked Singularity and others.
During his creative career, Melnychenko has participated in over 200 solo and group exhibitions, fairs, and international festivals. He is the author of 14 photo books, published both independently and in collaboration with the MYPH platform. As a curator and organizer, he has implemented over 60 exhibition projects in various countries, aimed at presenting the works of MYPH school students.
From 2022 to 2023, two series of Melnychenko's works were added to the collection of the German foundation Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung in Munich. In the foundation's collection, his works are displayed alongside those of artists such as Robert Rauschenberg, Ai Weiwei, Nen Goldin, Zhen Khan, Thomas Struth, Sebastião Salgado, Nadav Kander, Luo Yang, and Pixie Liao.
Photos are published in The Independent Photographer, Fisheye Magazine.
Works are presented in private and public collections in the US, Hong Kong, Ukraine, Poland, France, Germany, Belgium, Russia, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Japan, Netherlands, Italy, Switzerland etc. In 2024, his series "Tattoos of War" was added to the permanent collection of the Kiyosato Museum of Photography in Japan.

Awards

2026 — Nominator of Leica Oskar Barnack Award;
2025 — Nominator of Leica Oskar Barnack Award;
2024 — inclusion in the permanent collection of the Kiyosato Museum of Photographic Arts — Kiyosato, Japan;
2024 — Annual photography grant from the Alexander-Tutsek Stiftung to create my own project — Munich, Germany;
2023 — nomination for "A New Gaze 4", Vontobel Contemporary Photography Sponsorship Prize — Zurich, Switzerland;
2013 – Winner Of Contest Photographer Of The Year 2012 In Nomination Series Of The Year – Kyiv, Ukraine
2013 – International Contest Golden Camera 2012 – 1st Place In Nomination Conceptual Photography, Amateur – Kyiv, Ukraine
2013 – Shortlist Of Krakow Photomonth Festival – Krakow, Poland
2015 – Short-List Of Pinchuk Art Centre Prize – Kyiv, Ukraine
2017 – 1st Place In The National Awards Photographer Of The Year 2016, Street Professional Category – Kyiv, Ukraine
2017 – Winner Of Leica Oskar Barnack Newcomer Award 2017 – Berlin, Germany
2020 – Nomination on Foam Paul Huf Award – Amsterdam, Netherlands
2022 – Becoming a part of Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung foundation collection – Münich, Germany
2022 – FUTURES talent, nominated by ISSP – Amsterdam, Netherlands
2023 – Nomination on Foam Paul Huf Award – Amsterdam, Netherlands

Public awards

2023 — Honorary breastplate "For Assistance to the Armed Forces" from the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhny,
2024 — Medal "For Cooperation" from the Head of the State Border Service of Ukraine.

Exhibitions

Personal exhibitions

2012 – Nails – Kryvyi Rih, Ukraine
2013 – Schwarzenegger Is My Idol – Lviv, Ukraine
2013 – Schwarzenegger Is My Idol – Showoff Section Of Krakow Photomonth Festival – Krakow, Poland
2014 – Les Amours Imaginaries, Closer – Kyiv, Ukraine
2014 – Les Amours Imaginaries Odesa Museum Of Modern Art Arteria– Odesa, Ukraine
2014 – Schwarzenegger Is My Idol, Fiebre Galería – Buenos Aires, Argentina
2014 – Art-Book Presentation In Frames Of Private Residency Program The Muzychi Expanded History Project – Kyiv, Ukraine
2014 – Schwarzenegger Is My Idol In Frames Of Off_Festival Bratislava 2014 – Bratislava, Slovakia
2014 – Military Commissariat, Estudio Ñ – Valdivia, Chile
2015 – Les Amours Imaginaries In Frames Of Landskrona Fotofestival – Landskrona, Sweden
2017 – Behind The Scenes, Trzecie Oko Gallery – Krakow, Poland
2017 – Behind The Scenes – Mykolaiv, Ukraine
2017 – Paris Photo 2017, Behind The Scenes/Leica Oskar Barnack Award 2017 – Paris, France
2017 – PLAYDAY, Face Foundation/Mironova Gallery – Kyiv, Ukraine
2018 – Behind The Scenes, Claude Samuel Gallery – Paris, France
2018 – Sztuka w dialogu, Loneliness online and Polaroids from China, Piekno Panie Gallery – Lublin, Poland
2018 – Loneliness online, SomoS Art Gallery – Berlin, Germany
2018 – Only Now Only Never, FACE Foundation – Kyiv, Ukraine
2018 – Behind the scenes, European Month of Photography, Galéria Michalský dvor – Bratislava, Slovakia
2019 – Leica Gallery London – London, UK
2019 – Schwarzenegger is my idol, Museum of Kharkiv School of Photography – Kharkiv, Ukraine
2019 – From Dusk Till Dawn, f22 foto space – Hong Kong
2020 – Young and free, Leica 6×7 Gallery, curator Adam Mazur – Warsaw, Poland
2021 – Fundamental Space Explorations of Naked Singularity – Vasli Souza Gallery, Oslo, Norway
2022 – Young and free? / Metaheroes – Esther Okada Gallery, Tokyo, Japan
2022 – Fundamental Space Explorations of Naked Singularity, The Great Finding. Step One – Subject. With Mitya Fenechkin – Asortymentna kimnata gallery, Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine
2023 — So much Love and Compassion, Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung Foundation – München, Germany
2023 — Fundamental Space Explorations of Naked Singularity, The Great Finding. Step Three. With Mitya Fenechkin - Dymchuk Gallery, Kyiv, Ukraine
2025 — Tattoos of war - in frames of Budapest Photo Festival, 37 Gallery - Budapest, Hungary
2025 — Fundamental Space Explorations of Naked Singularity, The Great Finding. Step Four. With Mitya Fenechkin - Porokhova Vezha, Lviv, Ukraine
2025 — The war they live - Ukrainian House of America - New York, USA.