- Release July 2025
- Photographs: Patrick Wack
- Design: Kakkalaki
- 87 color photographs
- 152 pages
- 24 x 29 cm, Hardcover
- French/english
- ISBN : 978-2-492696-26-8
- 65 €
- This book was supported by the Région Sud
With an approach that blends symbolism and documentary, Azov Horizons explores the backstage of a geographical area now engulfed in the violent struggle for Russian control of southern Ukraine, while evoking the transformations underway in the societies of both countries, one sinking into bellicose authoritarianism, the other struggling for survival.
Presale until july 10, 2025
Get your book signed by the artist! — €60 €65 Add to cart
A limited edition of 30 copies
Order your book signed by Patrick Wack + a 15 x 15 cm print numbered from 1 to 30 and signed, Photo Pigmentary (Fine Art) print on Baryta Hahnemühle paper — €155 €165
one of 3 head print avalaible
Order your book signed by Patrick Wack + a 20 x 20 cm print, numbered from 1 to 7 and signed by the author, Photo Pigmentary (Fine Art) print on Baryta Hahnemühle paper — 400 € 450 €
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AzoV Horizons the book
“The Sea of Azov appeared to me in a flash of light. It is that very special light, soft and colourful, that guided my first steps on the shores of this little sister of the Black Sea, to which I have returned every summer since 2019.
It was these gradations of horizons, colliding with our visual imagination of these regions, that I promised myself I would photograph, year after year in Ukraine and Russia, like a formal thread guiding my steps. But this summer narrative, which I had hoped would be filled with light, is also the chronicle of a world on the brink of disappearing, consumed by the war that would soon break out.
In 2019, the region was already a zone of intense friction. Fighting had raged for five years in the Donbass, the Crimea had been annexed, and the Sea of Azov was de facto occupied by the Russian navy. The visual softness I found on these peaceful shores contrasted eerily with the rising evil.
A world was on the brink of history. This is the fundamental ambiguity that this series conveys: that beneath the beach lies fury and shattering shells. It has been three years since Ukraine lost its Azov horizons. Few Ukrainians still harbour the hope of ever seeing them again.
Influenced by the American tradition of Road Photography, the series favours detours and wanderings, rather than a journalistic approach, in order to give the narrative reins to the territory and its peculiarities rather than proffering them to the event. This narrative is constructed according to the rhythm of long annual stays that allow the time of the history to unfold in all its complexity.
The images draw our attention to the roots and visible traces of the war; they are the backstage of an inconceivable horror unfolding on European soil. I hope they whisper into our collective consciousness that what we take for granted is not immutable. There are still many journeys ahead: I can no longer imagine a summer without Ukraine.” — Patrick Wack
To discover the “azov horizons” exhibition rendez-vous in arles this summer
Azov Horizons will be exhibited at Rencontres d’Arles this summer from July 7 to October 5, 2025 at Montmajour Abbey.
