Stolen Spring

• Prize
  Gold in People/Portrait, Gold in Portfolio/Fine Art, 1st Place winner in Portfolio
• Jury Top 5 Selection

  Susan Spiritus

• Photographer
  Alena Grom
• Website
  http://alenagrom.com/

I live in Bucha and work in Irpin. After the Russian occupation, these cities were destroyed. The military landscape has become my daily reality. I photograph women who suffered from Russian aggression, inspired by Polish photographer Michael Nash’s images of Warsaw’s ruins in WWII. Spring passed unnoticed during the occupation; people lost homes, loved ones, and a part of their lives. IDPs from Donbass and Crimea face a second tragic spring. Each photo reflects personal tragedy but also hope that Ukraine will rise from the ruins.

• Biography
  Ukrainian artist and documentary photographer Alena Grom was born in Donetsk. In April 2014, she was forced to leave her hometown due to the conflict in Eastern Ukraine. Since 2017, she has lived in Bucha near Kyiv. After Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, Grom and her family became refugees twice but returned after Bucha was de-occupied. Her experiences deeply influence her work, which captures the resilience of life amid war, focusing on victims, migrants, and refugees, at the intersection of social reporting and conceptual photography.
• Awards
  2025 Sony World Photography Awards 2025/Shortlist; 2024 L.A. Photo Curator: Global Photography Awards /PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE YEAR; 2024 London Image Festival / London. England / The main prize; >>> 2024 Siena Creative Photo Awards / Siena. Italy /First place; >>> 2024 International Photography Contest Category / 14th international@picture.award / Finalist; 2024 KLPA International Portrait Photography Prize/ Kuala Lumpur, Temu House. Malaysia /Finalist; 2024 10th International Jalon Angel Photography Prize/ Archive of photographs of Jalón Ángel in collaboration with the University of San Jorge in collaboration with the Service of Cultural Affairs / Overall Winner in the Portrait Category; >>> 2024 Fine Art Photography Awards/ Professional Photographer of the Year / The main prize; 2024 LensCulture Portrait Awards United Kingdom / Finalist; 2024 Photography Award Finalists /Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize/ Finalist; 2024 Xposure International Photography Awards / Sharjah. UAE / The main winner of the festival; 2024 Fish Eye Gallery / Paris. France / Exhibition of IWPA Award Edition finalists; 2023 — INTERNATIONAL WOMEN IN PHOTO AWARD / Finalist; 2023 Photometria Awards. Judged by Martin Parr/1st place/ Finalist/Greece /Exhibition; 2023 LensCulture Portrait Awards United Kingdom / Finalist; 2022 London International Creative Competition / Finalist; 2022 GOMMA PHOTOGRAPHY Grant / Finalist; 2022 Tokyo International Foto Awards / Prize Gold; 2022 Tokyo International Foto Awards / Prize Silver; 2022 International Photography Awards “Best of Show 2022” by this year’s curator, Dr Mark Sealy / New York / Exhibition; 2022 Prix ??de la Photographie, Paris (PX3) / Gold in Portraiture/ Family, Gold in Portraiture/Children, 1st Place winner in Portraiture;