Katia Motylova

On the 24th February 2022, the Russian Federation began a full-scale military invasion of Ukraine. The invasion marked a new turn in a war that first broke out nine years ago, when the Crimean Peninsula was annexed in 2014, and when swaths of the Donbas region were occupied. This ongoing war is extremely brutal; the Russian military deliberately attacks civilians – killing, raping, torturing, targeting humanitarian missions, and organising forced deportations to Russia. Civilian infrastructure – be it power plants, schools, cultural objects, hospitals, public transportation or residential buildings – is often the main target. The scale of destruction and the toll of human casualties grow constantly. At the time of writing, Ukrainian government statistics show 52,633 registered war crimes, 120,000 civilian buildings destroyed, 10,607 civilians injured, and 6,755 killed. The war’s severity has led to mass displacement, both within Ukraine and beyond its borders. With fluctuating cycles of departure and return, it is difficult to estimate the scale of displacement; when only registered cases inform statistics, the reality is likely further-reaching than reports suggest. Where the International Organisation for Migration estimates that over 6.5 million people have moved internally, the UNHCR cites 7.9 million registered as refugees across Europe – of which more than 86 thousand currently reside in the Netherlands. This is the largest displacement of people in Europe since World War II, and with Ukrainian men aged 18 or over obliged to remain in the country, the majority of those uprooted are women.

Backstage of installation

This book is a personal story about the war in Ukraine, the life of a woman and her family in the midst of hostilities. Events that began in 2014 with the occupation of Donbas have escalated into a full-scale war causing one loss after another. I continue to cling to what little remains, back to the lost photo album in search of an answer to the question of why it all happened?

This project is a personal story about the war in Ukraine, the life of a woman and her family in the midst of hostilities. Events that began in 2014 with the occupation of Donbas have escalated into a full-scale war and continue to deteriorate, causing one loss after another. In the millstone of the unfolding drama, I continue to cling to what little remains, constantly going back to the lost photo album in search of an answer to the question of why it all happened?

This book is a personal story about the war in Ukraine, the life of a woman and her family in the midst of hostilities. Events that began in 2014 with the occupation of Donbas have escalated into a full-scale war causing one loss after another. I continue to cling to what little remains, back to the lost photo album in search of an answer to the question of why it all happened?

Exhibition backstage, Graduation Show 2022, Royal Academy of Arts