Biography
Photo by: Valentyn Kuzan
Les Kasyanov, photojournalist and documentary photographer. Born in Kherson, Ukraine.
Studied German literature at Taras Shevchenko University of Kyiv and photography at Victor Maruschenko School of Photography.
Since 2011 I work for Yahad—In Unum, a Paris-based non-governmental research organisation. For a decade I have been taking portraits of the eyewitnesses of the Holocaust and pictures of the mass graves of the Jewish victims of the Nazis all over Ukraine, Belarus, Poland and Moldova.
In 2019 I started using video in my work. I made a documentary about the Jewish settlements in Southern Ukraine and a series about the Holocaust by bullets in Kherson.
Apart from my personal long-term projects, I freelance extensively as a news photographer reporting on the Russian-Ukrainian war. My pictures appeared in CNN, BBC News Ukraine, Sky News, Der Spiegel, Newsweek, The Kyiv Independent, Al Jazeera, Ukrainska Pravda, Kyjiwer Gespräche, etc.
I’m a member of the International Federation of Journalists and the Independent Media Trade Union of Ukraine.
I work with stills, video and sound. My focus lies on humanitarian issues and challenges in our society.
I speak English, German, French and Ukrainian.
Based in Lviv, Ukraine. Available for editorial, corporate and institutional assignments. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to contact me.
Contacts
E-mail: studio@leskasyanov.com
Books
2021
A cover and illustrations for the book So they remember by Maksim Goldenshteyn
2018
The Holocaust by bullets on the occupied Soviet territory, European teachers seminar, 11th edition, photos
2015
Killing Sites — Research and Remembrance, photos for a book by International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance
The Holocaust by Bullets. A Study Guide for Educators, photos for a book by Yahad–In Unum
2014
Yahad–In Unum. Broad Daylight, photos for the book
Exhibitions
2023
La Shoah par Balles (Ministère de la Fédération Wallonie-Bruxelles, Belgium)
2022
2020
Holocaust Remembrance Day (German Embassy in Kyiv, Ukraine)
Holocaust by Bullets (Holocaust Museum & Center for Tolerance and Education, Suffern, New York, USA, Burton Barr Library and Arizona State University Tempe Campus, Phoenix, Arizona, USA)
2019
Mémoire Rom (Mémorial du Camp de Rivesaltes, Perpignan, France, MolenRom asbl, Brussels, Belgium)
Holocaust by Bullets (Virginia Holocaust Museum, Richmond, USA)
Women at the Frontline of Mass Violence Worldwide (Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust, USA)
2018
Holocaust by Bullets (Boulder JCC, Boulder, Colorado, USA)
2017
Holocaust by Bullets (Milwaukee Jewish Museum, USA)
2016
A History of a Street (Ushakova Str, Kherson, Ukraine)
Diversity for Peace (EGO, Kherson, Ukraine)
Holocaust by Bullets (Vilna Gaon Jewish State Museum, Vilnius, Lithuania, University of Valencia, Spain, Centro Sefarad-Israel, Madrid, Spain, United Nations Lobby, New York, USA)
2015
Holocaust by Bullets (Museo del Holocausto, Guatemala City, Guatemala, Dallas Holocaust Museum, USA, Florida Holocaust Museum, St. Petersburg, USA, El Paso Holocaust Museum & Study Center, USA, Los Angeles Museum of the Holocaust, USA, UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, France)
2014
Terra Futura: Inner Ukraine (Fabryka mall, Kherson, Ukraine)
Holocaust by Bullets (Beth Tzedec Synagogue, Calgary, Canada, Saint Paul University, Ottawa, Canada)
2009
[new]kraine (Ausstellungsraum, Hamburg, Germany)
2008
Ukraine.Now! (Uzhhorod Castle, Ukraine)
2007
Ukraine.Now! (Bereznitsky Gallery, Berlin, Germany)