A Ukrainian artist and self-taught photographer, born in Turkmenistan, grew up in Ivano-Frankivsk, and is based in Kyiv. His main area of work is portraiture, with a primary focus on Ukrainian youth, subcultures, and the queer community.
Working not only in the documentary field as a portrait and documentary photographer, he also strives to comprehend, feel, and convey the present through other visual means, distinct from immediate approaches like photo reporting and photojournalism.
He has been shooting since 2014, and since 2022, war-related themes have also been added to Bakin's focus. He is currently working on a series of portraits of military personnel.
His book Epitome, a portrait of Ukrainian youth against the backdrop of war's scars, published in September 2024 by Void, sold out in less than a year. The book was a finalist for the Lucie Photo Book Awards in 2025. The project Epitome won the LensCulture Awards in 2023, was recognized in The Ones to Watch category by British Journal of Photography 2023, participated in Copenhagen Photo 2024, and received a grant from the Vienna IWM Institute under the Documenting Ukraine program in 2024.
Recently, the project also won the "Special View" nomination in the Futurespective competition by Vogue Ukraine and Photo Vogue (2025) and is featured in an exhibition at Saatchi Gallery, London.
Currently, Vik is also working on two portrait series and is involved in commercial shoots and publications for outlets including Le Monde, The Guardian, La Repubblica, Suddeutsche Zeitung, Publico, Dust Magazine, Hunger Magazine, Vogue Ukraine, and others. His works have been featured in exhibitions and festivals in Ukraine, France, Germany, Sweden, Italy, the Netherlands, Denmark, the UK, Morocco, Australia, and the USA.
UAPP is an independent association of professional Ukrainian photographers, designed to protect their interests, support, develop and promote Ukrainian photography as an important element of national culture.
UAPP's activities span educational, social, research and cultural initiatives, as well as book publishing.
UAPP represents Ukrainian professional photography in the international photographic community and is an official member of the Federation of European Photographers (FEP) — an international organization representing more than 50,000 professional photographers in Europe and other countries around the world.
