Day 377 – I rarely use black & white films in my practice. The last roll was in my camera for quite a while and I totally forgot about the taken pictures. This week, I finally finished it and was very touched to see that there were a few pictures from my last visit to my native town, Novoaidar, in the Luhansk region in September 2021. My grandparents live there and it was occupied by Russians within the very first days of the full-scale invasion. This photo shows a window in my grandparent's house that I couldn’t visit since.

Day 364 – „I am Sevilya Nariman-qizi and I am a Crimean Tatar. My origins are from Crimea, a peninsula in the south of Ukraine with its own indigenous people (qırımlı), its own history, traditions and outlooks. Ukraine is my home; my origins and my people’s history beat in me like a second heart. My whole family and everything I love is in Crimea, the place I could always return to freely, where I could be with my loved ones and be myself. Until the occupation of Crimea by Russia in 2014. Russia stole our sense of freedom and choice. Since then, I found being in stolen – Russian – Crimea uncomfortable and alien. It was in 1944 when Russia invaded Crimea and thousands of Crimean Tatars were deported and exiled from their homeland for over 45 years. Only in the late 1980s, the time of the perestroika and reconstruction, their land was returned to them. That’s when my parents went back to Crimea. Back to their land, back home. Since 2014 and the renewed Russian occupation, they lead a personal resistance, not agreeing with the “world” Russia brought on us. And they will keep resisting.“

Day 355 – This is a destroyed bridge over the Siverskyi Donets river. This river prevented the advance of Russian troops in the Donetsk region last year. Some bridges were destroyed by Ukrainian soldiers others got bombed by Russians. Without the bridges, Russian military was not able to cross the river. I went there recently with my friends from @livyj_bereh The Donets is the longest river in eastern Ukraine and gives its name to the Donbas, an important coal mining and industrial region in Ukraine that has been at the centre of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict since 2014. The Donets River played an important role in the war, which has been going on for almost a year now. It was considered the biggest natural obstacle to the Russian offensive and thus also represented a strategically important defense line for the Ukrainian army. The river is also important for Ukraine to manoeuvre militarily along the river and guarantee the water supply for important cities and agriculture. Today the river is in Ukrainian hands.

Day 334 – This is a picture of ”Malanka“ (Маланка), a Ukrainian folk feast celebrated on January 13th. Due to the war, mass events and celebrations were banned this year, but @lewa_kartowa found and attended a small, private festivity in Vashkivtsi. The tradition of ”Malanka“ is based on the New Year’s celebrations of the Julian calendar. On this day, men in traditional costumes, walk from house to house in the villages to ban evil spirits and welcome the New Year. These so-called ”Malanka“-groups are made up of several characters played exclusively by men. First, the commander enters the courtyard and asks the family to let them in. If the entry is granted, the other participants follow: Grandmas and Grandpas – recognisable by their masks – Kings, Queens, and many more, until at the end of the procession the bears appear. Playing a bear is honorable and difficult; only unmarried men can take it on. The performance ends with a wild, noisy dance representing the bears fighting among themselves. In the end, the group receives money from the master of the house and moves on to the next house.

Day 317 – This New Year’s Eve was very loud. Once president Zelenskiy finished his speech at midnight, Russia started sending us “gifts” such as Iranian drones and rockets. Thanks to the Ukrainian Air Defence Forces most of them were shot down before they could hit their target. Like this rose – covered in snow and surrounded by trash – survived winter, Ukraine survived the whole of 2022 and hopefully will endure until Russia is defeated.

Day 324 – This is Sasha she works at Photovision photography lab, one of my favorite places in Kyiv. This is where I get all my films developed. I’m very impressed with how small businesses operate now during all the power outages. They are trying to keep their services the same high quality and as fast as they were in pre-war times. Sometimes the staff waits hours for electricity to come back and works overtime until very late in the evening to process orders as if there were no power outages at all. I don’t know if I could keep working properly if it wasn't for them.

Day 310 – I took this Polaroid of Agata after we had breakfast. Our kitchen was filled with sunlight coming through the window. I was thinking about how winter has been warm and loyal to us so far. The warm temperatures helped to survive the many Russian attacks. This year went by very fast and it is coming to an end. Here in Kyiv and all over Ukraine, we all wish the same thing for the next year - Russia's defeat and peace for Ukraine.

Day 294 – During the power outages in Kyiv when we don’t have any network connection, this radio is the safest option for me to follow the news. When I bought this radio for our kitchen to listen to it while making breakfast, I couldn’t imagine that one day we would actually have to use it to get information in cases of blackouts. This still life is the first picture in a series about winter in Ukraine for TEMA.

Winter in war