Foam presents War is Personal, the solo exhibition by Ukrainian photographer and documentary filmmaker Julia Kochetova. Kochetova is a part of a new generation of image-makers who experience the war in Ukraine firsthand and document it from within.
About the exhibition & artist
Julia Kochetova (1993) is a Ukrainian photographer and documentary filmmaker based in Kyiv. Kochetova studied journalism at Taras Shevchenko National University (UA) and Mohyla School of Journalism (UA), alongside participating in IDFAcademy (NL). She is a regular contributor to media outlets such as The Guardian, Der Spiegel, Vice News, Zeit, and Bloomberg. In 2023, Kochetova won the Emmy Award (Vice News) and her work was recognised by World Press Photo (2024, Global Winner, Open Format).
While international media often reduce war to statistics, Kochetova turns her lens to the personal lives behind the statistics; to the homes, the people who remain and their language. She makes the personal realities of conflict tangible and confronts visitors with questions about memory, survival, and the meaning of home as the war persists.
The title War is Personal reflects Kochetova’s belief that war cannot be understood from a distance: every story carries a name, a face and a body.