Rita Ostrovskaya (Ukrainian: Рита Островська; born 1953) is a Ukrainian photographer, living in Kassel, Germany. Her work has contributed to the preservation of traces of Jewish culture in Ukraine. [1] [2] [3] Ostrovskaya's work is held in the collection of the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. [4]
Ostrovskaya was born in Kyiv. [5] She studied cinematography and journalism in Leningrad. [6]
Her large-scale project Jews in the Ukraine contains a series of photographs of typical Jewish towns— shtetl—in Ukraine, and the lives of Jews living in them. It was made between 1989 and 2001, beginning with Shargorod, at a time of significant change. Her accompanying text describes Jewish customs and cultural rituals that were being practiced. [5]
Since 2001, she has been living and working in Kassel, Germany. [2] She is also a ceramicist.
Ostrovskaya's work is held in the following permanent collection: