The Ukrainian House, in partnership with the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers, presented a publication featuring images by leading photographers documenting Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The book is based on photographs that were exhibited in October 2022 as part of the exhibition project “SPALAKH” (“FLASH”). Its goal is to preserve and disseminate evidence of the events of the war through the authorial lens of leading Ukrainian photographers.
The exhibition featured 500 works by Ukrainian photographers, including members of the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers, such as: Mstyslav Chernov (UAPP founder), Taras Bychko, Oleksii Furman, Pavlo Dorohoi, Serhii Melnichenko, Ihor Chekachkov, Yevhenii Zavhorodnii, Yurko Diachyshyn, Iva Sidash, Yana Kononova, Sasha Maslov, Mykhailo Palinchak, Olena Hrom, Serhii Mykhalchuk, and Serhii Korovainyi.
“When shaping the album’s narrative, we aimed to present the full breadth of authorial statements and show a wide spectrum of emotions—not only through war photography, but through contemporary Ukrainian photography in general: street, studio, landscape, portrait, intimate scenes, and nude,” says the project’s curator, Alisa Hryshanova.
In terms of its idea and content, the album “Spalakh” (“Flash”) conveys the reality and multilayered nature in which Ukrainians live and fight for victory.
Irpin, Bucha, Saltivka in Kharkiv, the mass grave in Izium, the Kakhovka Hydroelectric Power Plant, the Armed Forces of Ukraine’s counteroffensive in the South—these and other images of key events of the war are presented in the publication. The starting point for selecting the photographs was 24 February 2022.
Alisa Hryshanova emphasizes that war photography and photography made during wartime are not identical phenomena: “But taken together, they form an overall picture of tragedy, reflecting the theater of combat, the heroism of resistance, people’s stories, their psychological state, death and life, pain and hope.”
“Photographs that instantly spread through social media pages all over the world played an extraordinarily important role in how the war was perceived,” says Olha Viieru, Director of the Ukrainian House. — “Their impact is hard to overestimate, because they revealed the truth and shaped attitudes toward specific events. The emotional response to truthful photos helped resolve the issue of comprehensive support for Ukraine in this civilizational struggle on the world’s leading diplomatic and political platforms.”
Most of the print run will be distributed to government institutions as well as to the project’s partners, to bring these testimonies to a wide audience both inside the country and abroad. The album was published by the Ukrainian House with the support of Ukrgasbank. Printing house: “Vid A do Ya” (“From A to Z”).
Worked on the piece:
Topic researcher, text author: Marusia Maruzhenko
