Don't Worry, I'm Fine

© Maryna Syrovatka - Image from the Don't Worry, I'm Fine photography project © Maryna Syrovatka - Image from the Don't Worry, I'm Fine photography project © Maryna Syrovatka - Image from the Don't Worry, I'm Fine photography project View all images ↓
View all images ↓
  • Dates
    2022 - Ongoing
  • Author
  • Topics Contemporary Issues, Documentary, Editorial, Photobooks, Portrait, War & Conflicts

It is an intimate diary of encounters in my studio, a stopover in a journey no one chose to take. It’s about people from my homeland Ukraine who’ve faced the reality of war; these are the portraits and stories thoroughly recorded to remember

“How are you?” I ask. She looks at me as if the question itself doesn’t make any sense, like something is missing. How do you even begin to explain about what it means to lose everything—suddenly and irrevocably? Where do you find the language to speak about those weird everyday things that became your life?

I couldn’t fix her. I couldn’t fix anyone, not even myself. My world shattered. I felt null and void.

The one thing that felt important for me was to photograph her. I wanted to preserve lucid memories of these first days or even years, to leave a visual record of how we felt in this time as a reminder, as a future reference point.

The portraits in this project were taken between 2022 and 2024 at my studio in Bratislava. After the war began, I put out an invitation for displaced people from my homeland, Ukraine. Mothers and children, teenagers and seniors, athletes and people with disabilities responded, all who had faced the reality of war. Some of them remained in Slovakia or Austria, others returned to Ukraine, while some continued their journey to other countries.

In the slightly abstract studio environment—completely detached from the outside world—we sat, talked and created photographs. The sessions represented a kind of time capsule, a quiet space where a few fleeting moments of these permanently disrupted lives could be preserved, memories frozen in a time and place that felt very distant from the new reality that must be reckoned with.

From more than 70 photoshoots, 40 stories and over 100 portraits found their way into this book project.

Each photography session was an attempt to bridge a gap I could feel but couldn’t cross. The feeling was strange, like nothing I had ever felt before. Even with people I knew well, it was as if they had emerged from another world. We were watching the same horror film play on but from different sides of the screen. Theirs was the side that is tangible. People from all walks of life arrived with information and experiences we here in relative safety could only pretend to understand. There were subtle yet substantial changes that were easy to sense, but hard to describe. The sense was wholly surreal.

Behind each face here is a unique, layered and intensely lonely personal story. All intersect in this singular place, woven together to form a larger narrative.

"I'm fine," comes the reply, eventually.

A part of this project (2023–2024) was realized under the mentorship of Magnum photographer Jonas Bendiksen. The project is a Silver Winner of Tokyo International Foto Awards (2022). Selected images have been featured in publications such as Ukraine: Love+War (2024, FotoEvidence) and Fresh Eyes (2024, GUP Magazine). The project was exhibited in various cities of Slovakia (2022).

Currently, I’m working on the book (due in 2025).

 

© Maryna Syrovatka - Image from the Don't Worry, I'm Fine photography project
i

On 24 February, Tamara could not grasp the reality of the situation at first. There were fires and explosions all around; at the airport, at the research facilities. “After some time, we could easily differentiate between the rockets, their missiles or our retaliatory shells. Those bastards attacked at night, sometimes at one a.m., sometimes at three a.m., no schedule.

© Maryna Syrovatka - Image from the Don't Worry, I'm Fine photography project
i

Michaela (12), or Mishka, is the youngest daughter in the family, she has diabetes.They left Kyiv on 8 March. There were already roadblocks everywhere by that time. “No cars…no medicine…no food,” says Maria.

© Maryna Syrovatka - Image from the Don't Worry, I'm Fine photography project
i

Milana (6) survived the siege of Mariupol. An apartment house where they lived was destroyed. The flats of her father and the grandparents are razed to the ground as well, burying them under ruins. The story of her rescue is just too long to fit into this caption but I cannot take any single word out of it.

© Maryna Syrovatka - Image from the Don't Worry, I'm Fine photography project
i

"The only thought I had was that the whole building could collapse like a house of cards at any moment, with me and my kids inside. It was terrifying.”Olena is thirty-three weeks pregnant here. Her children, Milana and Margarita, are five and two.

© Maryna Syrovatka - “Go home", they often say on social media. But… the thing is, there is no such place as home for us anymore…
i

“Go home", they often say on social media. But… the thing is, there is no such place as home for us anymore…

© Maryna Syrovatka - Image from the Don't Worry, I'm Fine photography project
i

Olena arrived here with her two sons and her mom by car. At that time, the road through Moldova and Romania with the sleepovers in the middle of nowhere, was the safest option. After that trip, she just parked the car and simply could not drive for months. The only thought of driving made her sick. She returned the car back to Ukraine to her husband later on.

© Maryna Syrovatka - On 29 July 2022, Lev's father stepped on the mine that ended his life.
i

On 29 July 2022, Lev's father stepped on the mine that ended his life.

© Maryna Syrovatka - “War follows me.” Judith came to Ukraine to study because it is not safe in Nigeria, her home country.
i

“War follows me.” Judith came to Ukraine to study because it is not safe in Nigeria, her home country.

© Maryna Syrovatka - Image from the Don't Worry, I'm Fine photography project
i

Anna recalls that the emergency bag she had prepared was ridiculous. It was packed rather emotionally than practically. One of the things she took was a chestnut.

© Maryna Syrovatka - Margarita continued training, even in the makeshift camps and shelters they found themselves in, to keep her skills up.
i

Margarita continued training, even in the makeshift camps and shelters they found themselves in, to keep her skills up.

© Maryna Syrovatka - “Nice that school was cancelled. On the other side, it is not so nice because the war started.”
i

“Nice that school was cancelled. On the other side, it is not so nice because the war started.”

© Maryna Syrovatka - Misha died in February 2025 at the age of 16, and his mom does not know where to bury him.
i

Misha died in February 2025 at the age of 16, and his mom does not know where to bury him.

© Maryna Syrovatka - It was Mykhailo’s first trip out of the country. He died two months later.
i

It was Mykhailo’s first trip out of the country. He died two months later.

© Maryna Syrovatka - “I was planning to start making my wedding dress on 24 February.”
i

“I was planning to start making my wedding dress on 24 February.”

© Maryna Syrovatka - Image from the Don't Worry, I'm Fine photography project
i

"They say material things do not matter. But you know, when you walk around the city, you see a kid on rollerblades and it comes to your mind that you also had a pair at home. Katya could play the piano but everything burnt down. So your thoughts take you back, back to your home, because everyone around has some belongings and we have nothing, it’s all gone"

© Maryna Syrovatka - She filled the bathtub with water, glued the windows shut and locked the door.
i

She filled the bathtub with water, glued the windows shut and locked the door.

© Maryna Syrovatka - Image from the Don't Worry, I'm Fine photography project
i

She texted me on the way to Slovakia, “It is so scary here. I feel fine physically, but it’s as if there is nothing inside”.

© Maryna Syrovatka - Image from the Don't Worry, I'm Fine photography project
i

When the sirens go off during lessons, kids rush down to the basement, sometimes several times a day. If it is lunchtime, school staff brings food in lunchboxes.

© Maryna Syrovatka - Image from the Don't Worry, I'm Fine photography project
© Maryna Syrovatka - Image from the Don't Worry, I'm Fine photography project
i

On January 24, 2015, Melania's mother took her to work, unaware of the deadly shelling that would follow. The attack, launched from Russian-controlled territories with the the massed Multi-Launch Rocket System, devastated civilian areas. There was also a direct hit into the store where Melania’s mom worked.Her mother died, shielding Melania with her body.