Documentary photography

Documentary photography is a style of photography that provides a direct, accurate and truthful depiction of people, places, objects and events; it is often used in reportage and is intended to bear witness to reality. Unlike staged or purely artistic photography, documentary work seeks minimal interference with its subject, emphasising authenticity and context. Its tradition reaches back to the nineteenth century and flourished in the twentieth, when photographers recorded social ills, wars and everyday life. The classics of the genre include Jacob Riis and Lewis Hine, who photographed the living conditions of the poor and child labour, as well as the master photojournalists of the Magnum agency. Documentary photography plays a key role in shaping historical memory and civic consciousness. In Ukraine it has acquired particular significance during the Revolution of Dignity and the war, when photographers, often risking their lives, document crimes, suffering and human resilience, creating a visual archive of the nation's history.