Julie Poly

Photographer. Real name — Yulia Polyashchenko
Date of Birth: May 10th, 1986

Julie Poly (b. 1988, Kadiivka, Ukraine — now lives and works in Berlin, Germany) is a Ukrainian artist working with photography, installation, publishing, and expanded forms of image-based practice. Her work explores sexuality, gender, and intimacy through a visual language that merges documentary observation with staged exaggeration. Engaging everyday gestures, domestic scenes, and moments of erotic tension, Poly uses vivid color, precise composition, and humor to question who holds power over the body—visually and socially. Drawing from the Kharkiv School of Photography, she reinterprets its legacy through a feminist and embodied lens, reclaiming erotic imagery as a space of agency and self-authored identity.
In 2021, Poly founded Temptress — currently the only active erotic art magazine and curatorial platform in Ukraine. Initially focused on contemporary Ukrainian erotic art, it has since grown into an international project engaging artists across geographies through a queer-feminist lens. In 2024, Temptress received the special award at the Arsenal Book Festival.

PROJECTS

Ukrzaliznytsia — 2017-2020

Ukrzaliznytsia is a photo project that was filmed during 2017–2019. Having experience of working as a train conductor, Julie Poly captures the very essence of travelling in Ukrainian trains. Provincial gigolos and leopard-clad ladies, rigorous businesswomen and young soldiers —  the project depicts certain types of Ukrainian passengers as well as stereotypes about them, with the boundaries between reality and fiction being completely erased. The project includes both: documentary and staged pictures.

The part of project was shown at Kyiv Central Railway Station (2018). The full Ukrzaliznytsia project is published as a book (2020), art directed by Ben Ditto (UK). The book is printed in 1000 copies. Each copy  is numbered and put in a package imitating the design of the Ukrzaliznytsia bedding. There is also a brochure with photographs from the exhibition at the Kyiv Central Railway Station.

My precious — 2015-2019

Symbol of wealth, high status — and family "treasure", stable capital investment for unstable times. Such associations cause gold teeth in those who found the 90th years in Ukraine. The sculpture of Julie Poly is a comment on love of the person to decoration of itself, from the other side — a monument to gold teeth, quite reliable source of confidence in tomorrow. The sculpture was presented within collaborative project of Ukrainian artists in TSUM.

Kis-brys-miau — 2015 / Kosmolot — 2019

Curiosity about the experiments with own sexuality can start manifesting itself from the early years of a person’s life. Through this new experience, a child or a teen gets to know himself, and learns about others. Often, the process of coming of age gets connected to the games — from innocent schoolish “kis-brys-miau” to a more revealing “spin the bottle” kissing game, or from playing the provocative strip cards as teenagers to BDSM sessions (swinger parties, fetish games etc.) in later years. Sexual kinks often remain hidden from the world, but the game allows to “reveal the cards”, and, by doing so, to satisfy the desires, push the boundaries of self-knowledge in a meanwhile.

The project was made in a format of a deck of playing cards. Pictures on the cards are the images from the artist’s archive, or screen shots of private messages. Limited deck of playing cards ‘Kosmolot’ was created in 2019 and  was supplemented by staged photos, and was presented in the slot machine network of the same name. The first version of the deck included 36 cards, and made its debut in 2015 under the title ‘Kis-brys-miau’  at the final exhibition of the School of Contemporary Art. The limited edition contains 54 cards and was released in amount of  10 decks. The project was also implemented in the format of an online game.

Ukrainian Beauty — 2018

Series of the three mini projects shot for Dazed Beauty, an experimental beauty web community established by Dazed & Confused magazine (UK). Each project muses on the particular visual codes of Ukrainian beauty ( artificial hair, wedding styles), and everyday reality of the local beauty industry (beauty salons, wig rentals). The mockumentary series got executed in a digital, somewhat raw way.

Kids — 2016

Balancing on the verge of art and fashion photography, this project is dedicated to coming of age in the Post-Soviet environment. In the center of the shoot are various subcultures and Ukrainian kids that represent them. The project was created for Vogue UA.

EXPERIENCE

Fashion-photographer

2012 - Today

A firm success in fashion helped Julie Poly to start her own art practice.
Years of fashion photography practice include such stages: 

• 2018 - pictures from Kids series get into the book celebrating Vogue Ukraine 5 year anniversary.
• From 2016 - works get published by key international media outlets (vogue.com, Dazed magazine, printed i-D, Jalouse, Alei Journal and others)
• 2016 - starts working with Vogue UA (shots special art and fashion projects - Erotica, Kids)
• З 2015 - starts working with major commercial clients in Ukraine (Sanahunt, Icon, Symbol shops etc.), and leading local designers (Elena Reva, Poustovit, Flow the Label etc.)
• 2015 - commercial projects іn Barcelona
• 2014 - commercial projects in Munich, worked for Apple Models
• 2013 - starts working for l’Officiel Ukraine (made 6 covers)
• 2013 - works at the New York Fashion Week
• 2012 - works for Elite and IMG agencies in Milan

EDUCATION

2024 Laboratory of Memorialization Practices. An educational and research project on /the search for the language/ of remembering the russian-Ukrainian war. 01.03-30.07, The Memory Culture Platform Past / Future / Art together with the NGO “Museum of Contemporary Art” with the support of the “Partnership for a Strong Ukraine” Fund.

2024 How Art Utters War, april-may, Metod Fund and Universität Kassel

2022-ongoing Magnum PhotosхFutures

2021 Rodchenko school Transmedia lab Kirill Savchenkov

2019 LensCulture Visual Storytelling class

2015 Contemporary Art School of Visual Communications. (Lada Nakonechna and Kateryna Badyanova Lab)

2012 Ukrainian State Academy  of Railway Transport, Master’s Degree in Customs Control, Faculty of Railway Transport Process Management, Kharkiv

SOLO SHOWS 2025 Ukrzaliznytsia 2017-2025 by Julie Poly curated by Mesen (Oslo, Central Railway Station, Oslo S, Drammen Station, 25.06.2025—25.06.2026) 2023 4:59 (Oslo, Fotogalleriet, exhibition, 27.01—05.03.2023) 2020 Ukrzaliznytsia Book presentation, Kyiv 2019 Kosmolot Kyiv 2018 Ukrzaliznytsia Kyiv, central Railway station 2013 No1 Kharkiv GROUP SHOWS 2025 Futurespective by Vogue UA, M17 CAC, 7.04—24.08, Kyiv, Ukraine The Stammering Circle curated by Marta Kuzma at Jam Factory Art Center / Faktura and RIBBON International, 21.06 – 02.11, Lviv 2024 Eastern European Beauty – Contemporary Fashion Photography & the Eastern European Aesthetic, 21.07 – 6.10, Capa Center, Budapest Essential goods.Ukrainian Photography Now, 23.05 - 06.06,Ukraine-Paris,Pavilion of Culture Forever and a Day, 18.01 - 25.02, Amsterdam, Melkweg Expo 2023 I AM YOU ARE, Ukrainian creators fair, 24-26.03, NYC The exhibition Cultural Fabric — Rereading the Relationship Between Fashion and Art Practices, 23.03-25.03.23 Berlin, Fotografishka 2022 Krakow Photomonth Festival, Krakow 26.05 - 26.06, Bunkier Sztuki at the Potocki Palace, Rynek Główny 20 Les Boutographies, Rencontres photographiques de Montpellier, edition #22 Ranok, 11 May-10 June Montpellier Tripolar, Paris Spalah. Ukrainian photography today, Kyiv Tbilisi culture week in Bassiani Kunst(Zeug)Haus, November, Switzerland But I'm awake. Identity, vulnerability and empowerment. Positions of young photography of the futures platform, 10-28 Aug, Hamburg UNFOLDING LANDSCAPES, show in Brussels, 20 Jul-19 Aug IMAGENATION PARIS 2022, Paris 27-29 May, Galerie Joseph Le Palais Slava Ucraini, Gallery Czwartek, 10 Mar, Marszatkowska 27/35/lokal 3 Pictures for purpose, A print sale fundraiser for Ukraine, 10-24 Mar UNFOLDING LANDSCAPES, Exhibition 29 Jan-01 May KunstCentret Silkeborg Bad, Denmark Tbilisi Photo Festival x FUTURES x Photo Books 2021 Futurespective by Vogue UA, Kyiv Sensitivity. Modern Ukrainian photography, Kyiv 2020 Pink Exhibition, Kyiv Futures Digital Festival 2020, RESET digital exhibition, Amsterdam 2019 LensCulture Discoveries 2019 (Paris Photo Off, at Galerie Joseph, 2019; Emerging Talent Awards winner) Futures at Unseen Amsterdam Uglification, Kyiv 2018 5 years of Vogue UA, Kyiv Kyiv Photo Week 2015 We Will Not Meet Each Other Today, Kyiv 2011 Zero Budget, Kharkiv Honest Female Portrait, Kharkiv Idol, Kharkiv Rails, Kharkiv BIENNIAL 2023 Riga Photography Biennial, portable exhibition, Latvia 2022 Vizura, Reboot Zagreb Biennial 06/04-18.04, Gallery Ulupuh 2022 8th Triennial of Photography Hamburg Hamburg, Germany CONTESTS 2019 LensCulture Emerging Talent Awards, winner 2019 NG Unseen Talent Award, winner  2009 Playboy Photo Awards, winner

BOOKS, SELF-PUBLISHED EDITIONS

2025 Hrishnytsia, Issue 5. Berlin, September 8, self-published

2024 Hrishnytsia, Issue 4. Berlin, December 7, self-published

2023 Hrishnytsia, Issue 3. Berlin, November 8, self-published

2021 Hrishnytsia, Issue 2. Kyiv, October 8, self-published

2021 Hrishnytsia, Issue 1. Kyiv, May 31, self-published

2020 Ukrzaliznytsia book. Kyiv, May, self-published

SELECTED PRINT PUBLICATIONS

2025 Ties That Bind: Fictions, Orthodoxies, and Interdependencies, eds. Antonio Cataldo & Nikhil Vettukattil

2024 UOOYAA ZINE, Issue 13: Ukrzaliznytsia by Julie Poly, October

2024 Bezgust, June

2022 9½ Years of Vogue

2021 Aperture Books, Photo No-Nos: Meditations on What Not to Photograph (Letterpress Edition)

2018 Ukraine in Vogue: 5th Anniversary Special

2016 Vogue Ukraine, Kids Project

SELECTED ONLINE PUBLICATIONS

2025 Kunst, krig og kjærlighet til et land, kan finnes på en stasjon nær deg, July

2025 Schön! Magazine, interview with Julie Poly, June

2023 Vogue Italia, 29 May

2023 Vogue Polska, 14 April

2023 Fluter, 12 April

2023 Achtung Magazine, 8 April

2023 Fotografishka, Berlin

2023 Fluter, 29 March

2023 Fotogalleriet, Oslo

2023 The Academy of Fine Art, Oslo

2023 e-flux, 17 January

2023 Kunstavisen

2020 Libération, August

2020 i-D, May

2020 Vogue.com

2018 Dazed Beauty, Enter the world of Ukraine’s beauty salons

2018 Dazed Beauty, Photographic bridal culture in Ukraine

2018 Dazed Beauty, Ukraine wig industry

AWARDS AND GRANTS

2019 ING Unseen Talent Award

2019 Nominee, Futures Photography talent platform Nominated by The Calvert Journal (UK)

2019 Winner, LensCulture Emerging Talent Awards

2019 LensCulture Visual Storytelling Awards

WORKS IN PUBLIC COLLECTIONS

The IKS - Institute for Art Documentation and Scenography in Düsseldorf

The New York Public Library

Kyiv, Ukraine +380632261325 juliepolystudio@gmail.com