26, event manager
Lviv

In her essay "Other Heroes: Animals at War", Sofiia tells the story of how animals have been used for military purposes — from carrier pigeons and  military dolphins to Patron the dog — and reflects on what this says about us as humans.

23, artist, graphic designer
KramatorskKharkivLviv

The linocuts in "The Porcelain" project are inspired by the Soviet porcelain figurines collected by Sofiia's grandmother, as well as by family relationships that became just as fragile after the loss of a loved one.

23, cultural studies specialist, youth project coordinator
KhmelnytskyiKyiv

In the video essay "light (of a lamp) of knowledge", Sofiia recalls the first blackout of 2022, caused by Russian shelling of energy infrastructure, and shares what helped her — then still a student — stay strong during those dark times.

18, Communication Design student
MariupolHanau (Germany)

"shadows of things from home" photo zine is an exploration of the objects and meanings that help Nika and other young Ukrainians who have found themselves abroad due to the Russian invasion stay connected to home and their Ukrainian identity.

22, fashion director, artist
Bolhrad (Odesa region)Lviv

The painting "Virabhadrasana" depicts how each of us tries to hold it together while the pain of others pierces our souls from within. Yelyzaveta created the painting (and documented the process) in collaboration with other workshop participants, because the burden of war is easier to bear when shared.

20, historian, museum worker
PavlohradDnipro

What did the Crimean Tatars take with them during their deportation to survive and preserve memories of home? In the project "Voices from Within", Anastasiia is collecting testimonies from the descendants of Crimean Tatars deported by the Soviet authorities in 1944.

23, historian, journalist
KhmelnytskyiLviv

In his essay "The fluid perception of lasting occupation", Andrii describes how life in the USSR affected three generations of his family — from his great-grandfather, who was persecuted for resisting collectivization, to his grandfather, an officer serving in occupied Czechoslovakia, and to his mother, who was proud to live in the Soviet Union.

20, digital platforms manager, Сultural Studies student
Kyiv

"uzhasodyn" zine is Anna's declaration of love for the women of her family and their homeland, the village of Tykhyi Khutir in the Cherkasy region. It is a collection of memories from Anna herself and her female relatives about their favorite places, flavors, adventures, and people — going all the way back to her great-great-grandmother Nataliia.

24, journalist, creator of "kintseva" channel about mosaics
Mykhlia village (Khmelnytskyi region)Lviv

When Oleh was a child, a Soviet tank that had stood on a pedestal for decades disappeared from his hometown. The void it left behind sparked despair and raised many questions. In the zine "Armoured Memory", Oleh seeks answers to these questions, reflecting on the impact such tank monuments had on the identity of the residents of the Ukrainian cities they loomed over.

18, film director
Kyiv

When Veronika visited the hometown of her father, who was a soldier, in the Volyn region, she noticed a paradox: in a country at war with Russia, people continue to attend churches of the Moscow Patriarchate. Why are we reluctant to embrace change? Veronika explores this question in her collages and the filmic novel "Who bears the sin, and who sins".

24, film director
MariupolKyiv

Zhora's father moved from his native Armenia to Mariupol, Ukraine, because of the war. When another war broke out in Mariupol, he had to start his life over again. In the film essay "Cavt Tanem", Zhora explores his father's journey and their relationship, while also attempting to find the imits of our responsibility amid endless geopolitical instability.

25, teacher, painter
Kryvyi RihKyiv

Mykyta found a unique artifact at home — his great-grandfather's diary, in which he described how he survived the German occupation of Kryvyi Rih and forced labor in Germany. In the project "The Inscrutable OST Way", Mykyta commemorates his great-grandfather's experience through the visual language of collage.

23, poet, playwright
DniproKyiv

In the play "The Invisibles", set on the eve of a full-scale war, Liliya reflects on how Ukrainian society forged national identity despite its dividedness, on the mistakes made along the way, and, more broadly, on why it is important to listen to one another in advance.

Mykyta: 22, culturologist, archivist
Drohobych (Lviv region)Lviv

Marichka: 22, culturologist, cultural manager
Boryslav (Lviv region)Lviv

Studying newspapers of the late Soviet period, Mykyta and Marichka compare narratives of military topics in the USSR media to the contemporary Ukrainian and Russian narratives about the war in Ukraine and visualize them in “Gazeta Project” collages.

22, director
NikopolKyiv

Through his “The Living and The Dead” collage project, Yehor tells how his godmother asked him to send her father’s ashes by post to another town and reflects on the nature of (lack of) care in society today when tragedy and death surround us daily.

23, journalist
TrostianetsSumy

Valeriia’s text “I wait for a call having no clue how to tell him tragic news” tells about a Ukrainian serviceman from Sumy region, who has been held in Russian captivity for 2.5 years, and his only closest relative — a 79-year-old grandmother who is fighting for her grandson’s freedom.

21, philologist
Yaremche (Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast)

“Field Research on Crimea” essay describes memories of Larysa’s parents about their honeymoon trip to Crimea in 2001. They dreamt of coming back there with their daughter but missed a chance because of the Russian occupation of the peninsula.

19, journalist
Sumy

Sofiia found out she was a Crimean Tatar at 12. “44/22” tells about her family deported from their native Crimea by the Soviets along with a story of a Crimean Tatar woman who was recently forced to leave the peninsula due to persecution by Russia.

26, director
DonetskKyiv

“Why Are People Unhappy?” is a film about feelings that Leeza has had for 10 years — the pain of a displaced person who had to move due to the Russian occupation of Donetsk, her hometown. Leeza created this film in collaboration with a younger herself based on videos she recorded as a 10-13-year-old girl.

22, studies art and politics
DonetskKyivBerlin

In the difficult 1990s, Lisa's mother and her friends dreamed of marrying foreigners and leaving Ukraine. Her mother’s friend Elvira left, and she stayed. Lisa narrates in her film “Looking For a Husband (With a Good Passport)” how the fates of both friends turned out and how this idea influenced her personally.

20, photographer
KharkivChernivtsi

“The Shadows of the Battles” photo series is the story of Anny’s husband, a serviceman who returned home from the front but whose mind is still in the war. It is a visual chronicle of his daily life — emotions and concerns, fears and dreams, and changes that the war brought to the family’s life.

18, studies architecture and urban planning
DonetskKryvyi Rih

The essay “A Century-Long Journey Through Family History” introduces us to Anna’s five generations of her family, whose lives were influenced by wars of different times — from her great-grandfather's German captivity in World War I to her father's imprisonment in the Russian Izolyatsia torture prison and the author herself, a displaced person from Donetsk city.

21, director
Ukrainka (Kyiv Oblast)Kyiv

In “A small black untitled film” project, Maryna prepared life references and own reflections that will serve as a foundation for the film about the servicemen who want to go home and their relatives who wait for them and try to overcome the war-driven gap between them.