Honorable Mention
The unique Roma culture of Keldelari.
DESCRIPTION
These mysterious Roma live in the village of Podvinogradovo, Transcarpathian region, and are one of the most closed communities in Ukraine. There is a strict law here that women must wear long skirts or dresses. Skirts are often made up of so many layers and padding that they can weigh up to ten kilograms. Girls get married at 12-13 years old and have children. Their clothes, culture, traditions immerse you in a completely different amazing world.For a year and a half I negotiated with various people and communities who have close relations with the Keldelari community, because they are a very closed society of gypsies, with their own rules and traditions. And finally, one influential doctor in this region helped me organize a filming in this community. I was given 2 hours to film and I was very glad that I was able to preserve the history of these unique gypsies.
AUTHOR
Michael Dorohovich is a portrait and documentary photographer, born in 1978 in Transcarpathia, in the small town of Uzhgorod.Winner of the MONOVISIONS Black & White Photography Awards 2023 (single) award. He holds a master's degree in photography from the Kyiv University of Culture and is a teacher of audiovisual art at the Uzhgorod Academy of Culture and Arts.
Winner and prize-winner of many prestigious world awards in the field of photography. His works have received international recognition and have been exhibited in museums and galleries in Japan, India, North America and many European countries.
Author of photo projects that presented the culture and traditions of Transcarpathia to the whole world: “Famous and Interesting Personalities of Transcarpathia” (2021 - 2022); "Cultural Ethnos of Transcarpathia" (2022); "High-mountain inhabitants of the Ukrainian Carpathians" (2023-2024); "Unique women of the Roma culture Keldelari" (2023).
Throughout his life, he has been engaged in solo mountaineering and mountain solo trekking. He traveled through the mountain systems of the Carpathians, Crimea, Caucasus, Alps, Altai, Kamchatka, Pamir and Tien Shan. He recorded all his ascents in photo landscapes.
