Poor harvests are from God; famine is caused by people

Since 2026, I have been working with archival images of my hometown, Kharkiv, in Ukraine, which is now entering the fifth year of a large-scale invasion led by Russia.

By juxtaposing images from 2011 with current views, I examine the city’s visual codes and sociopolitical atmosphere—not to interfere, but to highlight what is already there: advertisements that are now inconceivable, monuments, traces of the Soviet occupation; all of this is embedded in the urban imagery, alongside scenes of everyday life on a human scale.

By expanding the scope to include satellite images of the region, a separate branch of the project emerged, which I call “ soilscapes ". What followed was a process of framing—or, as I prefer to call it, fragmentation."

The bombed-out suburbs, printed on a plaque, echo the travel memento that was once meant to be displayed on the wall.  Poor harvests are from God; famine is caused by people —  a popular saying that reflects a long-standing awareness of the hardships rooted in life on Ukrainian soil. A common thread emerges among causes that have remained unchanged for nearly a century.