Pioneering Ukrainian Photographer Sofia Yablonska's Legacy Lives On

Yablonska's vivid accounts of her global travels, from Morocco to China, paved the way for future generations. Her legacy lives on in 'Regained Culture: Ukrainian voices curate Ukrainian culture'.

Pioneering Ukrainian Photographer Sofia Yablonska's Legacy Lives On

Sofia Yablonska, a pioneering Ukrainian photographer and writer, has left an indelible mark on women's emancipation and literature in Western Ukraine. Born near Lviv in 1907, she traveled the world, capturing her experiences in vivid travelogues alongside Daria Vikonska and Olena Kysilevska.

Yablonska's journey began in her hometown, where she studied at a teachers' seminary and acting courses for women. In 1927, she moved to Paris to study documentary photography and cinema. Her first book, 'The Charm of Morocco' (1932), detailed her experiences and observations in Morocco, marking the start of her literary career.

Yablonska's travels took her to East Asia, Australia, and Oceania, each destination inspiring a new travelogue. In 1939, she left Ukraine for China, where she met her husband and had three sons. Her life was tragically cut short in a car accident in 1971 while transporting the manuscript of a new book.

Contemporary of Yablonska was Daria Vikonska, born Joanna Karolina Mayer-Fedorovych in Germany in 1893. Vikonska spent her childhood and youth in Western Europe, writing about her travels in France, Finland, and Austria, with a particular association with Venice. Her works, along with Yablonska's and Kysilevska's, have shaped women's emancipation and literature in Western Ukraine. Vikonska lived through a period marked by partitions of Poland, social struggles for independence, and the rise of nationalism and women's rights movements.

The travelogues of Sofia Yablonska, Daria Vikonska, and Olena Kysilevska continue to inspire and influence Ukrainian culture today. Their works are celebrated in the series 'Regained Culture: Ukrainian voices curate Ukrainian culture', produced in collaboration with Folkowisko Association/Rozstaje.art and co-financed by the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, and Slovakia through a grant by the International Visegrad Fund.