Book launch Pharmakon / Ambulance by Alexander Chekmenev

On March 7, a book launch of a new book Pharmakon / Ambulance by the Ukrainian photographer Alexander Chekmenev, published by the Italian publishing house 89books, will take place. The publication features photos taken in 1994-1995 in Luhansk, where for some time the photographer accompanied the ambulance crew and had an opportunity to document their daily work in full. It opens up with an essay by a documentary photographer who has worked in Ukraine for a long time, Donald Weber, entitled The Human is an Atom that Won’t be Split, in which he recounts a story of his acquaintance with Chekmenev's work and the feelings it evokes. The first photos are in black and white, but very quickly the photographer realized that they do not do justice toblood, and there is a lot of blood in the pictures. Some photos are accompanied by short notes by the author, which tell simple stories - who hit whom with an ax, what is a drunk tank and how to bring to consciousness a person in a state of heavy alcohol intoxication.

Pharmakon / Ambulance consists of 65 color and 6 black and white photos and has a circulation of 300 copies.