Igor Gaidai

Born on 22 January 1961 in Kharkiv.

In 1984, he received an award at the Kyiv International Festival “Molodist” for his graduation work, the short film “Dragon” (based on the novel of the same name by Ray Bradbury).

In 1984-1986, he worked as a lecturer of photographic composition and lighting at the Department of Film Directing at the Karpenko-Kary Institute.

In 1985, he graduated from the Karpenko-Kary Theatre Institute in Kyiv, specialising in cinematography.

In 1987-1991, he worked as a photographer at the Oleksandr Dovzhenko Film Studio.

In 1991, he founded his own photo studio, which became the first private photo studio in Ukraine. Since 1995, he has been a co-owner and art director of Gaidai Studio LLC.

In May 2023, a unique photo by Igor Gaidai “Soldiers of the Azov Regiment. Mariupol” was sold for $12,500 at a charity auction at the National Centre “Ukrainian House”.

On 28 July 2023, he joined the committee of the Taras Shevchenko National Prize of Ukraine.

Author of photo books: “Ukrainians. The Beginning of the Third Millennium” (1996-2003), “9 Months + 3 Days” (2006-2008), “Razom.ua” (2004-2011).

Personal exhibitions were held in the following cities: Heinsberg (1991, Germany), Toulouse (1993, 2008; France), Kyiv (1994, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2019), Leipzig (1996, Germany), Wroclaw (2004, Poland), Geneva (2005, Switzerland), Vienna (2006, 2009; Austria), Donetsk (2008), Dnipro (2008), Lviv (2009, 2011, 2014), Arles (2010, 2011; France), Paris (2010, 2013; France), London (2011, 2014; UK), Metz (2011, 2013; France), Angers (2011, France), Berlin (2014, Germany), Pärnu (2014, Estonia), New York (2014, USA), Zaporizhzhia (2014), Chernivtsi (2014), Chernihiv (2014), Ivano-Frankivsk (2015), Hofburg, Innsbruck (2015, Austria), Grunewald (2015, Germany), Frankfurt/Oder (2015, Germany), Innsbruck (2020, Austria), Odesa (2021), Kutaisi (2022, Georgia), Strasbourg (2022, France).

Currently, the works of several series of the photographer are exhibited at Art Ukraine Gallery.