Pohliad (from the Ukrainian погляд, meaning ‘look’) was a Kyiv-based photographic collective active from 1986 to 1994, founded during the final years of the Soviet Union by Oleksandr Liapin, Oleksandr Ranchukov, Valerii Reshetniak, and Oleksandr Kozulko. Conceived as an independent documentary photography group inspired by Magnum Photos, Pohliad emerged outside the structures of the Soviet press and became one of the key platforms for new Ukrainian documentary photography during the period of Perestroika.
The collective later included photographers Oleksii Levytskyi, Rita Ostrovska, Efrem Lukatsky, Serhii Supynskyi, Pavlo Pashchenko, Oleksandr Hliadelov, Yurii Tugushev, and Vitalii Zaporozhchenko. Valerii Reshetniak was an unofficial leader of the group. Pohliad had an office in a small flat in central Kyiv, and organised exhibitions throughout Ukraine and beyond, including in Kyiv, Minsk, Melitopol, Slavutych, and Mariupol.
The photographers focused on subjects largely absent from Soviet media: the aftermath of the Chornobyl disaster, street life, homelessness, youth subcultures, crime, political protests, the Ukrainian rock scene, Jewish migration, and the collapse of the Soviet system. The group helped introduce new forms of documentary photography and photojournalism to Ukraine, including crime reportage and extended photo stories.
Alongside exhibitions, Pohliad was also involved in photography education and cultural organising, collaborating with other photographic groups such as the Lviv-based Vezha group led by Mykhailo Frantsuzov. Although the collective formally dissolved in 1994, its members went on to play an important role in shaping contemporary Ukrainian documentary photography.
