Photographs by Volodymyr Voznyy
2019-2022
Quietness of the local park is very much delusive. As soon as you close your eyes and start listening, you sense the vibration, you hear the metal voice of industrial factories and the hustle of humans who no longer exist.
Today the giant is asleep. Its past glory still echoes through pumpjacks scattered over the city - those complex cyclopean inventions of people that never found their place in this world. Only the millennial mountains surrounding Boryslav remember the fantastic story, which could actually be real. Once here, you feel as though you are sailing in a centuries-old aboriginal ship in search of land where mammoths still live.
Since the end of the 19th century, these lands have been heavily involved in the production and refinery of oil. The period of intensive development of Boryslav was depicted in the well-known 'Boryslav Stories' by Ivan Franko. However, now the city reminds a monumental sculpture of human ignorance. It has serious environmental issues. It suffers from the pollution with oil and oil products nevertheless people continue living here.
'Behind the smile'
A series of photos about the relationship between people and nature in the only city in the world, located directly on the industrial oil field.
Volodymyr Voznyy
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