Broken Trees

Ongoing series started in 2022. From the beginning of the full-scale war I never left Kyiv. I had the hope that it won’t be defeated. I engaged in a new project(working title is «Broken Trees») which tells a story of people and places of Kyiv region in the post warfare time. My journey through recently occupied Kyiv region began with the intention to see for yourself these once light-hearted places, now wounded and destroyed. It shifted to the whole new deeper level for me when I started to meet people, talk to them and listen to their stories. The occupation of Kyiv region by russian troops lasted around one month. But the level of atrocities russians made is just appalling. It’s been a really tough and heartbreaking experience to go to those places and hear the stories from people directly. Seems like there’s nobody who’d never felt at some point the pain and distress from this war which is still going on right now as I write this text. I still try to articulate what it's all about for me. I try to balance my narrative somehow between the traces of horrors, never ending uncertainty and the hope for a bright future. This project is ongoing. I’m receiving a grant from @eepberlin gallery to keep on working on this project further.