POV: Graduating in war
Hundreds of Ukrainian graduating high-school students could not arrange a prom due to the large-scale destruction of their cities. Nevertheless, they decided to create their own memory of their school life and to show how it changed by the war. Striking photos of the teenagers gained tens of thousands of views per day and became worldwide known. We spoke with them and a Ukrainian photographer captured these images.
"And this photo session was shaking us. It reminded us again that the war is still going on, and showed its consequences. {…} Now, more people can see our real life and how graduates experience it".
Olha Babynets
Without a solemn ceremony, a sumptuous prom night and congratulations: Ukrainian graduates spent the last school days in the ruins of their hometown. As of June 2nd, 1,938 educational institutions in Ukraine were damaged by constant bombing and shelling by Russian troops, 182 institutions were completely destroyed. Among them are schools in Chernihiv*, the northern city close to the border with Russia. Stanislav Senyk, a wedding and portrait photographer from Ivano-Frankivsk, captured on camera the emotions that local teenagers experience during the military conflict.
He is convinced that it is very important now to preserve history, especially now: “I capture those emotions that people feel at the moment. And in 5-10 years they can look at those photos and feel them again... Many photographers fled, and I wanted to make people happy. I was just planning to make an album and give it to the students.”
*Chernihiv: a city and municipality in northern Ukraine, located about 140 km from Kyiv and 66 km from the border with the Russian Federation. As of June 7th, a total of 144 high-rise buildings in Chernihiv were destroyed by direct shells and debris, and another 692 were destructed by blast waves.
”War behind our backs”
Stanislav started searching for students for his project on Instagram. He says that at first not everyone agreed to participate, doubting that it was strange or inappropriate. But finally, the photographer found three classes in Chernihiv.* Olha Babynets is one of the graduates who supported the idea: "When we came back to Chernihiv, the first days we simply closed the windows because we could not calmly perceive the ruins observed from them. But later we stopped paying attention to it… And this photo session was shaking us. It reminded us again that the war is still going on, and showed its consequences. Others can actually see the war behind our backs on these pictures… Now, more people can see our real life and how graduates experience it".
Olha Babynets © Stanislav Senyk
Each class offered its locations for filming in different places in Chernihiv which suffered the most destruction by the war. Those were residential buildings, shopping malls, and of course, damaged Ukrainian schools. "When I came to the location, I was shocked. But the children already seemed to have got used to living with it, they became stronger”, admits Stanislav. “Generally, I sensed pleasant feelings from these graduates. The entire shooting process seemed to be interesting for them, even amusing. And it did not cause indignation or negative emotions".
The result was overwhelming. According to Stanislav, graduates were impressed with the photos they managed to create for the album. This proves that photography has a unique impact on emotions. Moreover, such a project was especially important for the parents: "You saw Chernihiv. The souls of our graduates were also morally destroyed,” wrote the mother of one of the high-school students. "It was an extraordinary therapeutic photo shoot that inspired our children to live. It put an end to the past and gave them the strength to move on".
This is the third charity project by Stanislav. Now he dreams of spreading the idea beyond the country. In particular, he is currently looking for opportunities to sell these photos at auctions and transfer the proceeds to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
The waltz on the debris
Stanislav's project is not the only one that clearly demonstrates the consequences of Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure. Also the school of graduates in Kharkov - the school 134 - was destroyed. That's where 16-years-old Valeria studied. Her class also planned to celebrate graduation, the girls prepared beautiful dresses. But it turned out that they had to waltz on the debris. "The idea was initiated by the soldiers, who liberated our school from the Russian military. They offered to make a documentary video about our school in memory and dance a waltz… We had been studying at this school for 11 years and it was very difficult to come to its ruins. We still can not believe that it has happened to our school… Before that my great-grandparents, my dad, my uncle, aunt and cousin were studying there. We also wanted to send my younger brother to this school”.
Valeria in the red dress. Her photo went viral. © Stanislav Senyk
Due to the war, only a third of the class stays in Kharkiv. Valeria explains that the city is still not very safe, especially in the evening, when there is more shelling. However, during the filming Ukrainian soldiers were with the graduates, protecting them and controlling the situation. But the idea of the photo in the red festive dress arose spontaneously: "I was photographed by my mother on her phone. We just took a picture for ourselves in memory. And when it spread, we drew attention to our school and city. Some people still do not believe that this could happen to us, but we have shown that it’s real”.
Now the emotional photo of the girl and the video of her class on the ruins of their native school have been worldwide known. But above all, Ukrainian students dream of peace in Ukraine and victory. Valeria says: "My classmates and I thought that when the war was over, we would all meet in Kharkiv and dance the waltz in our already rebuilt school".
