Mstyslav Chernov's journey, director of Oscar-winning Ukrainian film 20 Days in Mariupol

Mstyslav Chernov

Mstyslav was born in Kharkiv in 1985. He began his career as a photographer in 2005, working for the local Kharkiv news agency MediaPort.

In 2008, he received the first prize at the local photo exhibition "Kharkiv. City through the eyes of citizens". The same year he held his first solo photo exhibition "Musica per somnia", conceived and organized with the assistance of the director of the Kharkiv Philharmonic Yurii Yanko.

In 2009, he received another award, taking first place at the photo exhibition "Almost Lost Kharkiv," which highlighted examples of the destruction of the city's old architecture.

Since 2008, Chernov has worked with the international project "Children of Chornobyl" and the "Novick Cardiac Alliance", photographing heart surgeries. In 2012, he lived in Cambodia, focusing on local cultural and medical projects.

Mstyslav Chernov (photo: facebook.com/MstyslavChe)

In 2013, Chernov's work received national recognition. His photographs won him first place in the Ukrainian Photographer of the Year competition in the Documentary Photography category.

Also that year, he won the Pentax Awards Ukraine and the Best Press Photographer of Ukraine competition in the Portrait category. At that time, Chernov photographed in more than forty countries and held another solo exhibition in 2013, "The Rainy Season," where he presented photographs from the Far East.

In 2013, Chernov became the president of the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers, a non-governmental organization. His artistic installation project "Looking Through the Windows," during which enlarged old photographs were placed in the windows of abandoned buildings, attracted the attention of the national press and was repeated in the following years. That same year, Chernov was invited to participate in the international documentary photography project Unframe.

In the summer of 2013, while in Istanbul to take photographs, Chernov witnessed the protests in Gezi Park and Taksim Square. He was shocked by the violence and shifted from art and documentary photography to covering conflicts and wars.

Mstyslav Chernov in Iraq (photo: facebook.com/MstyslavChe)

At the end of 2013, Kyiv witnessed massive protests that ended in bloodshed, the flight of President Viktor Yanukovych, and the Revolution of Dignity. Chernov documented these events as a correspondent for MediaPort and Unframe. During the escalation of violence, he was attacked several times and injured.

Photo of Chernov from Maidan (facebook.com/MstyslavChe)

At the end of 2013, police attacked members of the press, injured Chernov's arm, tore up his journalist's license, and destroyed his photographic equipment.

In January 2014, ignoring the "Press" signs, a police officer threw a stun grenade in Chernov's direction, causing shrapnel to injure his legs and eyes.

In the spring of 2020, Mstislav Chernov worked in various countries, including Libya and Syria, where he distinguished himself by covering the migration crisis in Türkiye. From May to July and from September to October, he covered the COVID-19 pandemic in Ukraine.

In August 2020, he worked in Belarus, recording the events surrounding the presidential election. After Lukashenka was declared the winner, large-scale protests broke out.

In Minsk, Chernov was detained and beaten by Belarusian law enforcement officers. The photographer lost consciousness from the beating in the police car and had to be treated by an ambulance. Chernov was then deported from Belarus.

In 2023, Mstislav Chernov became a member of the Georgy Gongadze Prize jury and was among the 50 heroes of the first issue of Vogue released during the full-scale war.

Mstyslav Chernov won an Oscar for his film 20 Days in Mariupol (photo: facebook.com/MstyslavChe)