
The
Artist
Anton Shebetko
Lives and Works in
Amsterdam
Anton Shebetko (he/him) is a Ukrainian artist, photographer, curator, and writer from Kyiv, currently based in Amsterdam. His practice focuses on LGBTQIA+ experiences in Ukraine, themes of memory, loss of identity, multiplicity of history, and the role that photography and archival materials can play in revealing these stories. Much of his research is dedicated to forgotten and unrecorded queer histories of Ukraine, parts of which were published in his book 'A Very Brief and Subjective Queer History of Ukraine'.
His work has been exhibited internationally, including at FOAM Museum (Amsterdam), Schwules Museum and nGbK am Alex (Berlin), Q21 (Vienna), Photo Elysée (Lausanne), CENTQUATRE-PARIS, BWA Studio (Wroclaw), Württembergischer Kunstverein (Stuttgart), and PinchukArtCentre and Mystetskyi Arsenal (Kyiv). He participated in the Kyiv Biennial (2023) and was a nominee for the PinchukArtPrize (2025). Shebetko has curated exhibitions and film programs for Schwules Museum, Melkweg Expo, and WORM Rotterdam, and has lectured at Maastricht University, Gerrit Rietveld Academie, and Between Bridges Gallery. He holds a BA from Gerrit Rietveld Academie.
Portrait of Anton Shebetko by James Barnett
His work has been exhibited internationally, including at FOAM Museum (Amsterdam), Schwules Museum and nGbK am Alex (Berlin), Q21 (Vienna), Photo Elysée (Lausanne), CENTQUATRE-PARIS, BWA Studio (Wroclaw), Württembergischer Kunstverein (Stuttgart), and PinchukArtCentre and Mystetskyi Arsenal (Kyiv). He participated in the Kyiv Biennial (2023) and was a nominee for the PinchukArtPrize (2025). Shebetko has curated exhibitions and film programs for Schwules Museum, Melkweg Expo, and WORM Rotterdam, and has lectured at Maastricht University, Gerrit Rietveld Academie, and Between Bridges Gallery. He holds a BA from Gerrit Rietveld Academie.
Portrait of Anton Shebetko by James Barnett
Projects
2022
Simeiz
Simeiz is a small village on the southern coast of Crimea, currently under temporary Russian occupation. During the Soviet period, it became an underground queer resort, beginning with a secluded nudist beach that functioned as a rare space of freedom and encounter. After Ukrainian independence, a bar and nightclub called Hedgehogs emerged, further establishing Simeiz as a queer gathering place. From the 1990s onward, the village developed into a key meeting point for LGBTQIA+ communities from Ukraine, Belarus, and Russia, attracting around 4,000 visitors annually before the occupation of Crimea in 2014.
Today, Simeiz’s queer history is being erasured under the homophobic legislation of the Russian Federation. If this process is completed, photographs and amateur video recordings may remain the only traces of both its existence and its disappearance. The project 'Simeiz' (2022-ongoing) takes multiple forms and is based in oral histories alongside reworked found footage, including archival video and photography. It forms part of the long-term research project 'A Very Brief and Subjective Queer History of Ukraine', which traces invisible, unrecorded, and forgotten queer narratives existing outside state archives and dominant historical frameworks. Through a series of interconnected works, the research examines how colonial legacies, Soviet occupation, and the rise of post-Soviet capitalism have shaped queer communities and artistic practices in Ukraine.
Today, Simeiz’s queer history is being erasured under the homophobic legislation of the Russian Federation. If this process is completed, photographs and amateur video recordings may remain the only traces of both its existence and its disappearance. The project 'Simeiz' (2022-ongoing) takes multiple forms and is based in oral histories alongside reworked found footage, including archival video and photography. It forms part of the long-term research project 'A Very Brief and Subjective Queer History of Ukraine', which traces invisible, unrecorded, and forgotten queer narratives existing outside state archives and dominant historical frameworks. Through a series of interconnected works, the research examines how colonial legacies, Soviet occupation, and the rise of post-Soviet capitalism have shaped queer communities and artistic practices in Ukraine.
Anton Shebetko
was nominated by
FOTODOK
in
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Each year every member of the FUTURES European Photography Platform nominates a set of artists and projects to become part of the FUTURES network.
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