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Kirill Golovchenko: “As a kid I spent a lot of time on the beach. We spent most of the summer in a seaside holiday home. It’s a great feeling on the seaside, calming and threatening at the same time. Life on the beach is very varied. The beach is a universal theme and in this case part of the cultural world of the Ukraine.

Perhaps you can find out more about people at the beach than at other public spaces. People go to the beach, take off their clothes, lie down next to other people they don’t know, swim, eat, tan, and drink … For me, the beach is like a German mixed sauna. The more people there are lying on one level, the more join. Some parts of the beach are so hopelessly overcrowded that you can’t get to the waterside for all the beach-towels. My images are what they are, merely windows on the reality of the seaside. They show situations. I find interesting, appealing or repugnant. I find it exciting to immerse myself in the situation and the people. Most images are direct observations captured using a camera: seen briefly, and then they’re over. I’ve always needed to be close up to people, to almost be part of them, which is like saying I was never just an observer but also a holidaymaker. One of them.”