feature / alumni / photography-and-imaging / on-02
April 19, 2024
By Solvej Schou
Images courtesy of Stella Kalinina

In Practice: Stella Kalinina

Photography alum showcases the ‘softer parts’ of the Ukrainian refugee experience

Nataliya Zhuk, a woman in her 50s, sits behind a steering wheel in West L.A., her face bathed in shadow and light. Her adult son, next to her, is teaching her to drive. It is a moment layered with complexity. Zhuk, who managed an engineering lab in Ukraine, fled her home in Kyiv in 2022 after Russian forces invaded the country, joining her son in the United States.

This is just one image from a recent photography essay for The Guardian by Russian-Ukrainian American alum Stella Kalinina (BFA 13 Photography). This photograph—along with other day-in-the-life photos she took of Ukrainian refugees in Southern California—showcases what the L.A.-based photographer calls the “softer parts” of the refugee experience.

“This is the most emotional work I've ever done,” says Kalinina, whose clients include The New York Times, The New Yorker and Airbnb. “In a weird way, I’m reliving my own immigrant experience and how difficult it is when you first come here.”

Kalinina grew up in Moscow, immigrating to the U.S. with her family at age 13. As a child, she visited her family’s ancestral home in Izium, Ukraine. When the war began, The Washington Post published photos from Kalinina’s project Where They Wait for Me, images of her close relatives in Izium.

Grappling with the shock of the invasion and fear for her family’s safety, Kalinina started photographing and interviewing Ukrainian and Russian immigrants in California about the war, for outlets that included KCET/PBS SoCal and Smithsonian Magazine.

“It became clear what my unique access is, with my identity,” she says. “I’m so inspired by everyone’s stories and resilience.”