How Ukrainian photographers captured a year of conflict

The Information Front is a series of publications featuring photographs of the war in Ukraine taken by photographers from the country. It was founded on the belief that photography can act as a “countermeasure against false truths and propaganda” by witnessing the experiences of ordinary civilians in conflict zones.

The first volume, published in newspaper format in June 2022, documented the first two months of the invasion of Ukraine. The second, in the form of an expanded magazine, featured photographers exploring “the search for Ukrainian identity” in the face of war. The images in both volumes reveal a variety of perspectives, styles and disciplines. Works by young artists reflecting on the toll of war on their country appear alongside those of veteran photojournalists working in the field.

The following pages feature the work of 10 artists created since the start of the war in 2022, selected by The Information Front founders Kateryna Radchenko, Christopher Nunn and Donald Weber.

Proceeds from the sale of the publications will go to the Ukrainian charity The Depths of Art, which supports Ukrainian culture, including photographers, in partnership with the Odessa Photo Days Festival.

Oleksandr Glyadelov

b 1956

Documentary photographer and photojournalist on war and humanitarian crises.

Dima Tolkachov

b 1989

Artist who has primarily reflected on the horrors of war since last year’s invasion.

Searching for visual metaphors, Tolkachov’s “New Grasses” (2022) shows images of grass sprouting from shrapnel holes caused by bombs. “I asked myself: will the war last so long or will the grass grow so fast?”

Ivan Samoilov

b 2002

Film student, born and living in Kharkiv.

Iryna Rybakova

b 1984

Press officer of the 93rd Kholodny Yar Mechanized Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Jana Sidash

b 1995

Documentary photographer focusing on the suffering of civilians after the Russian invasion.

Sidash’s Holding Hope project documents survivors of the Russian occupation in eastern Ukraine. In addition to these portraits, there are handwritten memories of life at that time. Although some people managed to escape, others had to live under occupation for around six months before being liberated by Ukraine’s armed forces in September 2022.

Oksana, Maksymivka village

“Embroidery” (a poem)

The embroidery on my chest
Cannot be removed.
I don’t wear it in public
But it can never be torn from my heart
No need to fly my flag –
This flag is not made of fabric.
You have to see the sunflower field and sky
I will always live for his glory
His coat of arms – I’ll do a tattoo
on my shoulders
So everyone can see and never ask
‘Where do you come from?’
and never will it be remembered by anyone
That Ukraine is Russian land.

Nastya, Mariupol

A drawing of a unicorn.

Bohdan, Hrushivka village

The first month was the toughest, both mentally and physically. It was morally difficult to see how our military left the city and how after a week the convoys of the attacking country began to occupy my city.

To help our AFU (Armed Forces of Ukraine), I began to count the equipment and, with the help of my friend, transmitted this data to the SBU (Ukrainian Security Service) and the Border Service. Every day I sat by the window with a phone, a piece of paper and a pen, and I ended up cleaning the phone and burning the same piece of paper. And so it went on for several months until the connection completely disappeared.

Daniel Russow

b 1997

Photographer documenting the war with analog film since March 2022.

Oleksandr Kuchynskyi

b 1995

Graphic designer, painter and illustrator.

Kuchynskyi made this collage entitled 30000 200 (2022) when the Russians invaded Severodonetsk in late May 2022. By this time, the Russian army had lost more than 30,000 soldiers.

Oleksiy Furman

b 1991

Photojournalist at Getty Images who has been documenting the war since 2014.

Sofia Homin

b 2002

Journalism student using analogue film to research the effects of war on Ukrainians.

In There Are No Toy Soldiers (2022), Homin seeks to portray what the residents of the Kiev region experienced after Russia’s occupation, and explore what’s left amid an uncertain future. The work contains photograms of abandoned objects and is printed on Soviet-era photographic paper.

Roman drone

b 1987

Photographer and film director.

theinformationfront.com; @theinformationfront

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