YOUNG AND FREE, 2017-2021 On the 24th of february 2022 the life of award-winning photographer Sergey Melnitchenko, as well as all other citizens of Ukraine, was forever changes. The day when Russia decided to invade their neighbour country. In 2017, pre-pandemic, pre-war, Sergey started his mesmerising project Young and Free to document freedom. The freedom to live freely, to celebrate his country that was moving in the right direction, where you were allowed to be naked, where you were allowed to be free. On the day of the invasion all this changes. The connection with friends and family that was earlier taken for granted, suddenly became a long-lasting dream/nightmare. So many people were killed, and many, many fled. At the time when these photographs were taken, all the young men in the picture could travel, hug and meet their friends and family on a regular basis. Today, all men above the age of 18 has been order to stay in Ukraine and fight for their country, thus being separated from the many people they love the most. The paradox of this series that started in 2017 goes beyond our wildest imagination. (с) Rasmus Vasli, Vasli Souza Gallery @vaslisouza —- Images engage a generation of young men caught up in the shifting history of their country but determined to live freely. In this photographs, this freedom finds emblematic form in nakedness. Liberated from the social signifiers of dress and uniform, the young men assert themselves as individuals independent of wider societal constructs. And, in so doing, they succeed in appearing both innocent and provocative. Even now, the male body can be a challenging subject in photography. While male nudes abound in the fine arts, they invariably wear their nudity as a mantle of allegory, representing the heroic traditions of Ancient Greece, the piety of the Christian martyr or some such elevating garb. They are simply ordinary young men doing the kind of things young men do, but without clothes. Yet here too, their nudity tends to lead the imagination to metaphor – to see them not simply as individuals but as capturing the spirit of a generation. —- (c) Alasdair Foster @alasdair.foster