Closely by Taras Bychko

In the essay Illness as a Metaphor, Susan Sontag says that a person is born with two “passports” — to the realm of the healthy and to the realm of the sick. And while we all strive for the former, we inevitably find ourselves in the latter. Experiencing a global pandemic, the fear of the invisible but deadly illness became even more acute and led to isolation, mistrust, and the creation of myths that our consciousness produces as a defense mechanism. On the other hand, the fear of illness brings you closer, gives you the opportunity to look deeper into the environment, reconsider life anew, and accept the very being-in-the-world.

In the project “Closely,” Taras Bychko captures his experiences of fear of illness because of images that intuitively resonate with his feelings: vulnerability, fear, and loneliness. The photographer leaves documentalists, giving space for the sensual, snatching from the mundane things that in a state of anxiety turn into chimeras. He wanders the illness world, still full of taboos. With his works, the author confronts us with the painful flow of life, which you feel most significantly during the illness.

All photos were taken in 2021 during chemotherapy by Taras Bychko. Photographed on Kodak Gold 200 + Olympus XA4.