“It’s a picture of Svitlana Martynenkom, a student of the Institute of foreign languages. Students of this institute had the possibilities to look behind an ‘Iron curtain’ because they studied foreign languages and had the opportunities to contact foreigners. Besides, Svitlana was not a stranger to bohemian circles since her brother Oleksandr Semenov was a photographer and the actress Nina Naboka was her friend. She lived in Podol disctrict in Kyiv and was acquainted with black marketeers from which she could get fashionable foreign clothes. In the 1970s she usually dressed in hippy style, though in the years that followed she preferred stylish clothes for her as well as for her son. After graduating from the institute she worked as an English language teacher for all her life. She also had a musical professional training and gave private lessons and even appeared on
TV with piano concerts.”
Comment by Petro Sazonov.
Photo is contributed by Petro Sazonov.
