Alexej Sachov at The Photography Show presented by AIPAD
Park Avenue Armory, New York · Booth B12 · April 22-26, 2026
Presented by form.gallery
Three bodies of work exploring a single question: how life begins, evolves, and survives. Process-based image-making created entirely during scuba dives. The ocean serves as studio, laboratory, and archive: each series isolates a different mechanism of emergence, from biological competition on coral surfaces to bioluminescent movement patterns to the accidental genesis of new forms from discarded material.
Chronicles of an Emerging Diversity
2022 - ongoing · Sculptural intervention, strobe-lit photography
Sachov collects marine debris during dives and compresses it underwater, then releases it - simulating the conditions of a primordial explosion. As fragments expand and collide, figures emerge by chance: forms that evoke powerful archetypes. Suspended particles of sand and plankton, illuminated by strobe, produce the illusion of a cosmic field. Every object is collected and removed from the water after each session. The series operates at the intersection of environmental intervention, performance, and photography: the ocean is both material and collaborator.
The Ballerina, 2023
Bobby, 2023
The Knight, 2023
The Jewel of Nature
2020 - ongoing · Macro photography, coral reef surfaces
Coral reefs are painting - and have been for hundreds of millions of years. These close-up photographs isolate the dense visual field of reef surfaces where dozens of species compete on a single plane, each deploying a different color, texture, and survival strategy. Viewers instinctively reference Pollock, Klimt, Van Gogh - yet nature arrived at this visual logic first. The works examine biological abstraction as a form of image-making that predates and parallels human art history.
The Jewel of Nature #1, 2025
The Prehistoric Art of Nature #1, 2025
The Jewel of Nature #9, 2025
The Secret Code of Nature
2021 - ongoing · Long-exposure macro photography, night dives
Life is a survival dance. Using extended exposures in macro mode during night dives, Sachov photographs the movement of small organisms hunting plankton - transforming their trajectories into luminous configurations that resemble symbols, glyphs, and scripts. Movement becomes the brush; the ocean writes its own notation. The resulting images exist between photography and drawing, capturing a biological choreography invisible to the human eye.
The Code, 2022
The Trace of Hope, 2024
Micro Code, 2022
About
Alexej Sachov (b. 1972, Kharkiv, Ukraine) is a Ukrainian-German artist whose practice transforms scuba diving into a medium for conceptual image-making. Working exclusively underwater without composites or digital painting, Sachov uses the ocean as a site of direct encounter with biological processes that precede and exceed human intention. His work sits at the intersection of photography, performance, and environmental practice.
Sachov is represented by form.gallery (France). He lives and works between Kyiv and the world's oceans.
Selected exhibitions & recognition
- Aesthetica Art Prize: Finalist 2024 (exhibition at York Art Gallery, UK). Selected for Celebrating 20 Years, a group exhibition of 50 artists at Mercer Gallery, Harrogate (opening 2 May 2026).
- Photo Basel 2024, presented by form.gallery. Named Best of Photo Basel by The Guardian and PHmuseum.
- Photo Basel 2026, presented by M ART Gallery (upcoming).
- VOLTA Basel · ST-ART Strasbourg · IPA 2023, 1st place + Jury Top 5 Selection.
The Photography Show presented by AIPAD
April 22-26, 2026 ·
Park Avenue Armory, 643 Park Avenue, New York. Booth B12.
Presented by
form.gallery.