Photography and Ukraine, Keeping Eyes Open to the War – Érika Nimis

[Summer 2023]

Photography and Ukraine, Keeping Eyes Open to the War
By Érika Nimis

[Excerpt]

Since February 24, 2022, when Russia instigated its full-scale military assault on Ukraine, there has been a constant ow of images of the conflict, both via traditional media outlets and on social networks. This is perhaps the first war to receive such broad media coverage. Indeed, from the start the Ukrainian authorities’ strategy has been to throw the country’s doors wide open to the inter- national media (though they take precautions to protect their armed forces); in contrast, few facts, and even fewer images, filter out from the other side except for Kremlin propaganda relayed by official Russian news agencies.1 Because there has not yet been time to step back and begin to think clearly about the role of photography in this conflict, here I give a voice to Ukrainian photographers who have been transformed into war reporters – sometimes at the peril of their lives, as the death of Maksim Levin in March 2022 reminds us.2

[ Complete issue, in print and digital version, available here: Ciel variable 123 – THE POWER OF INTIMACY ]
[ Complete article, in digital version, available here: Photography and Ukraine, Keeping Eyes Open to the War – Érika Nimis ]