2026 SDN Visual Storytelling Festival Speaker Series

Women and Documentary

Thursday, June 18
6:00-8:00 pm
In-person at the Leica Gallery Boston
74 Arlington St, Boston, MA

Artist talk with:
Julianne Snow Gauron. Myrrh Farming in Ethiopia
Uliana Storoshchuk. Grandma From the Corner (Ukraine) and The Will of the Compass

Join us for this in-person artist talk to celebrate women documentary photographers. Earlier this year Boston-based photographer Julianne Snow Gauron travelled to Ethiopia with two researchers to explore the ancient practice of myrrh farming, how to ensure that those who harvest the resin get more of the direct profits instead of middlemen along the opaque supply chain, and the new challenges brought about by climate change. Ukrainian photographer and current New York City resident, Uliana Storoshchuk, will show two bodies of work. The first tells the story of a 94-year-old grandmother in a rural village in Ukraine who continues to care for her closest companions — goats, cats, dogs, ducks and chickens— and reminds us that resilience does not always look like protest or battle. The second is The Will of the Compass, in which she documents her Ukrainian activist friends. 

No cost for program but registration is required.

AP Photo/Julianne Gauron. Burning myrrh, which is done to deter bugs and snakes, mingles with cooking smoke in a dark roadside restaurant as a young woman walks by bottles of water and soda Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in Afcadde, Ethiopia. 

Photo by Uliana Storoshchuk from Grandma From the Corner on SDN. Light from the window falls on the wall and on the icons of the Virgin Mary, Joseph, and Jesus in the kitchen of Ganka’s house, Lany, Western Ukraine, January 2022.

Julianne Snow Gauron

Julianne Snow Gauron is a full-time freelance photographer, explorer, and naturalist based in the Boston area. She creates narratives which bear witness to human connection, and disconnection, with the changing natural world and each other. Through her imagery the systemic becomes personal.

Julianne believes documentary storytelling is a critical tool for building connection, empathy, and catalyzing social change. With more than a decade as an industrial designer, Julianne bring unique field research skills and strategy frameworks to collaborations, resulting in impactful stories.

In addition to photography, she is a documentary director and videographer through her media company, Snow on the Road.

Julianne is an AP contributor (writing and images,) and her work has been published in major outlets including The Boston Globe, The Washington Post, MSN, Bloomberg TV, and PBS, and she directed the award-winning documentary short film series, Dear Senator.

She has lived in England, Ireland, Italy, India, and the Marshall Islands, and travels widely. Outside work and travel, she can be found in nature with her animals.

Uliana Storoshchuk

Uliana Storoshchuk is a Ukrainian journalist and photographer based in New York, working at the intersection of documentary and storytelling. Her work explores memory, care, and resilience, often focusing on lives shaped by war and displacement, while also documenting current events in the United States.

She holds a Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in Journalism (2016–2022) from Western Ukraine. Her work has appeared in international media outlets including New York Magazine, Forbes, Atmos Magazine, Ori Magazine, Voice of America (Ukrainian), Radio Free Liberty, BBC Ukraine, and Ukraïner, as well as other media in Ukraine. Her writing has been published in Between the Text: Journalists for Journalists (2019) and Muscles Not Muses (2023), and her photography was featured in the photobook EDITED 2026 (Berlin).

In 2024, she interned at Voice of America (Ukrainian) and was awarded the Director’s Fellowship at the International Center of Photography, where she focused on documentary photography and visual journalism.

Her work has been exhibited internationally through the Social Documentary Network (USA), Central Scotland Documentary Festival (Scotland), and the International Center of Photography (USA). 

In her artistic practice, she combines conceptual and documentary photography with narrative journalism, grounded in her personal experience and ongoing connection to Ukraine.
 

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