Homesick

I am a Ukrainian photographer who lived through Russian occupation and later became a displaced person in the UK. Homesick is a personal project about childhood, parenthood, and trying to preserve the feeling of home during war and forced departure.

Homesick is a family memory of living through two weeks of war in Ukraine, when home was no longer safe, but leaving it felt impossible because we did not know if we would ever be able to return.
The photographs speak about childhood and parenthood during war, about being afraid while trying not to show that fear to children, and about holding on to hope that everything will end soon. During this time, everyday routines became a way to protect our children’s sense of home, playing, brushing teeth, keeping small habits, so they would remember it as a safe place.
When evacuation finally became possible, leaving felt like saying a last goodbye to everything we had. The project was later developed while I was living in safety in the UK as a displaced person, when the feeling of homesickness became overwhelming. The work reflects on home as something deeply missed, carried in memory rather than returned to.