In ancient times, art was syncretic. Music, dance, and painting were inseparable and created a unique harmony in rituals. Nowadays, when art forms have long been established as separate disciplines, artists, designers, and musicians are once again combining them. The flourishing art of photography closely coexists with design, music, and painting, transforming each photographic frame into a living statement.
Olga Bondarenko, a photographer and digital imaging specialist, employs a similar syncretic approach in her work. Throughout her career, she has participated in different exhibitions, become a member of CAPIC and WIFT+ Toronto, and collaborated with leading artists and projects, including Ed Burtynsky’s TIW and Marie Claire Ukraine. In this article, Olga shares her experience of cross-disciplinary collaborations and reveals how she creates visual narratives that bridge different worlds of art.
When Photography Meets Music
At first glance, music and photography seem like two completely incompatible disciplines. One is a living melody, with dynamics, and a whole spectrum of emotions sounding in the moment. The other is a forever frozen reality, the play of light and shadow captured in a frame. But in the hands of a skilled photographer, static images acquire their own soul and visual rhythm.
The perfect place where music and photography intertwine is the Juno Music Awards – Canada’s largest music event, bringing together performers across a wide range of genres, from indigenous to hard rock. Olga Bondarenko participated in the event twice as a photographer and lead photo editor, capturing performances by bright and extraordinary artists. In 2024, she photographed live performances by nominees in the “Comedy Album of the Year” category.
A year later, at the JUNO Music Awards 2025, Olga returned backstage, this time photographing the NOBRO band during their Gala Awards Night performance. The nominees were performing in the “Rock Album of the Year” category, so the photos and music had to merge into a single frenzied rhythm. Olga captured the play of the spotlights, the artists’ enthusiasm, the audience’s emotions, and edited the images to match the powerful energy.
In the end, Olga succeeded in harmoniously blending live, resonant music with the stillness of photography – creating images that instantly immerse the viewer in the captured moment.
Synergy Between Fashion and Photography
While music and photography are quite different, there is no better combination than photography and design. Both art forms are visual, but they serve slightly different purposes. However, when designers and photographers work together, photos for fashion publications transform from illustrations into artistic concepts.
Olga Bondarenko has collaborated several times with graphic designer and art director Aliona Solomadina. In 2021, the photographer held a photo shoot for Aliona in honor of the release of Marie Claire Ukraine (No. 1, 2021). The edition itself marked the release of the Ukrainian version, timed for spring, the renewal of nature, and distinctive folk culture. Aliona’s photo shoot turned out to be just that – feminine, fresh, and full of lively and gentle energy. Just the kind that would be associated with the essence of the first edition of Marie Claire Ukraine.
Artistic Portraits and Exhibitions: Collaborating with Fine Artists
Olga Bondarenko collaborates with artists, designers, and musicians not only to create new, syncretic works of art but also to capture the inner world of these creators through her photographs.
In 2024, Olga created a series of rhythmic black-and-white portraits of DJ John Kong for the Toronto Jazz Fest. The photos, taken in a subdued atmosphere away from the DJ booth, looked quite contrasting, not what we are all used to seeing. A year later, she photographed renowned photographer Ryan Bolton in collaboration with Columbia Sportswear. Through her lens, Olga conveyed the strength of his character, his deep dedication to his profession, and the overall creative vision of a commercial shoot for a sports brand.
Olga has also completed numerous photo shoots for her documentary series. Each professional had their own goals and perspectives, which Olga sought to reflect intuitively. In 2020, she created a series of portraits for renowned Ukrainian etching artist Pavlo Makov at work in his Kharkiv studio. In 2023, she captured a fellow friend, model Gillian W., in otherworldly images, striving to depict the movements of the body and the rhythm of the tattoos on it. Olga’s colleagues also became subjects of her lens. In 2024, she photographed Jon Laytner in his Toronto studio as part of a documentary series, including images of him alongside his own photographic works.
Such portraits by Olga Bondarenko exemplify how collaborations between artists from different fields can produce truly unique and expressive imagery. There are photographs – and then there are captured souls and stories. That deeper connection is precisely what Olga always strives to achieve.
The Future of Visual Narratives in Cross-Disciplinary Projects
Visual stories have become a space where the syncretism of art forms can still be preserved. This is largely facilitated by bold collaborations, such as those in which Olga Bondarenko combined her experience with that of artists, musicians, and designers.
It can be said that the photographer becomes a kind of link between disciplines: capturing the moment and emotions and immortalizing them forever. It doesn’t matter whether it’s sound, a brushstroke, or a fashionable dress – when artists put in the effort, a new and exciting body of work emerges.
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