Tribute to Odesa | Laetitia Vançon
Keep Dancing to the Beat of Your Heart, 2022
Artist's statement
The goal of the work was to portray Odesa on the Ukrainian Black Sea coast, a city both strategic and symbolic. It evolved into a personal tribute to the humanness Vançon encountered there.
Behind the frontlines, another storm was unfolding, more intimate, rooted in daily life, resilience and quiet defiance. Odesa stood at a crossroads: between land and sea, past and future, peace and war.
The war was present in the sea, in the air and in every story Vançon encountered. But so was life. She turned her lens towards this space of tension. The simplest gestures — swimming, performing arts, returning to school or church, volunteering — took on a quietly heroic dimension.
This work became a portrait of Odesa through its people, who, in the face of the storm, stayed, who love, resist and carry on.
Even in the heart of the storm, hope, tenderness, solidarity and spirit endure.
About the photographer
Toulouse, France, 1979
French
Munich, Germany, works in Germany and Ukraine
About Laetitia Vançon
Vançon’s work primarily explores humanitarian issues, with a focus on resilience, identity and the human condition.
Vançon worked as a chemical engineer in France and South Africa until 2009. From 2010 to 2012, she stepped away from a defined career path, settled in Germany and started using photography as a form of healing to process personal traumas. This evolved into long-term documentary work.
Vançon completed her studies at the Danish Photojournalism School, Aarhus, in 2014.
Since 2015, Vançon has been a regular contributor to The New York Times. Alongside her reporting, she developed At the End of the Day 2016–18, which documented the lives of young people in the Outer Hebrides, Scotland.
She has exhibited her work internationally, including at Les Rencontres d’Arles, France, with Fisheye Gallery (2018); La Gacilly-Baden Photo Festival, France and Austria (2019); Hunterian Museum, Glasgow (2019); Xposure Festival, Dubai (2023); Leica Gallery, Wetzlar, Germany (2023) and Festival della Fotografia Etica, Lodi, Italy (2024).
Vançon’s work in Odesa, Ukraine won the Feature Photography prize from the Overseas Press Club of America in 2023. Her work has also been recognised by the Sony World Photography Awards (2019); Pictures of the Year International, United States (2020); Lucie Foundation, Los Angeles (2023); the Leica Oscar Barnack Award, Wetzlar, Germany (2023); Siena International Photo Awards, Italy (2023) and Life Framer, London (2024).