Yet still, rebirth. In the ordinary ache of waking.

© Federica Lucia Carducci - Image from the Yet still, rebirth. In the ordinary ache of waking. photography project © Federica Lucia Carducci - Image from the Yet still, rebirth. In the ordinary ache of waking. photography project © Federica Lucia Carducci - Image from the Yet still, rebirth. In the ordinary ache of waking. photography project View all images ↓
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  • Dates
    2022 - Ongoing
  • Author
  • Topics Contemporary Issues, Daily Life, Documentary, War & Conflicts
  • Locations Italy, Ukraine
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Through intimate everyday moments, this project reveals how care, motherhood, and routine become quiet acts of resistance in uncertain times.

Yet still, rebirth. In the ordinary ache of waking. is a quiet exploration of courage as it unfolds in the unseen. Within the rhythms of caregiving, migration, and the decision to begin again. It traces the story of Iryna, a mother from Kyiv who fled her home in the final month of pregnancy, lived in limbo across Italy and western Ukraine, and gave birth to her son Myron while separated from her husband. Two years later, she returned to a war-torn Kyiv with her children, determined to rebuild a life from what remained.

These photographs do not seek to document conflict. Instead, they dwell in its shadow, where tenderness, fear, and perseverance coexist. Through the intimacy of domestic life we witness a form of resilience that resists spectacle. The images explore the emotional terrain of motherhood and exile: the way care continues, even in uncertainty; how the smallest gestures become acts of survival.

This work sits in the in-between: between safety and risk, stillness and movement, what was and what might be. It suggests that courage is not always loud or certain. Sometimes it is the simple decision to stay present, to keep going, to create softness in a hard world. It is the bravery of waking up, of holding a child close, of choosing love over despair.

Iryna’s story is singular, yet reflects a collective experience. Of displacement, of motherhood, of quiet resistance. Her daily life becomes a space where personal strength is redefined, not by grand acts, but by the quiet insistence on hope and continuity. This is not a story of endings, but of continuance. Of what endures.

© Federica Lucia Carducci - Image from the Yet still, rebirth. In the ordinary ache of waking. photography project
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Pescara, Italy 2023. Iryna’s Polaroid, 23 July 2023. That day, she came for lunch in a light white dress, glowing with joy for the child she was expecting. Myron. With Dasha and little Yasya beside her, she looked calmer than during her last pregnancy. The fear hadn't vanished, but her face held more light than before.

© Federica Lucia Carducci - Image from the Yet still, rebirth. In the ordinary ache of waking. photography project
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Fenevychi, Kyiv oblast Ukraine 2022. Burning the remains. In the garden, Iryna’s in-laws burned what Russian soldiers had broken—furniture, photos, even memories.

© Federica Lucia Carducci - Image from the Yet still, rebirth. In the ordinary ache of waking. photography project
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Berehove, Zakarpattia oblast Ukraine 2023. Sasha, Iryna's husband. While Sasha served near the Hungarian border, he missed the birth of two of his children. Now reunited, he plays with them in a moment of peace.

© Federica Lucia Carducci - Image from the Yet still, rebirth. In the ordinary ache of waking. photography project
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Fenevychi, Kyiv oblast Ukraine 2022. Bunker door, Fenevychi. In the first weeks of invasion, villagers hid in cold, dark cellars like this one. Iryna spent a day underground before fleeing. She was pregnant and needed a C-section. Survival meant leaving.

© Federica Lucia Carducci - Image from the Yet still, rebirth. In the ordinary ache of waking. photography project
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Kyiv, Ukraine, 2024. Dasha plays outside her building. She returned to Kyiv at six, after nights spent rushing to the bathroom with her parents during bombings and school days in shelters under alarms. An expressive child, she treasures every moment in the open air.

© Federica Lucia Carducci - Image from the Yet still, rebirth. In the ordinary ache of waking. photography project
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Fenevychi, Kyiv oblast Ukraine 2022. "люди живут здесь; тут живуть люди; people live here". People in occupied villages wrote this phrase on the gates of their homes. A vain attempt to avoid being attacked and robbed by Russian soldiers. The writing is in Russian. The second transcription is in Ukrainian. Two different countries. Two different languages.

© Federica Lucia Carducci - Image from the Yet still, rebirth. In the ordinary ache of waking. photography project
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Kyiv, Ukraine 2025. Myron, the morning after. Just hours after a deadly attack, Myron bathes where his sisters had hidden from bombs. Inside the bathroom, the safest place in a Kyiv home.

© Federica Lucia Carducci - Image from the Yet still, rebirth. In the ordinary ache of waking. photography project
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Kyiv oblast, Ukraine 2022. The Kyiv Sea is a large bend of the Dnipro River, formed artificially by the dam built before the city. It is a natural barrier that protects the city from any attack from the north. The Ukrainian army has destroyed bridges along the road to the north to slow down or block the Russian advance towards the capital.

© Federica Lucia Carducci - Image from the Yet still, rebirth. In the ordinary ache of waking. photography project
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Kiev, Ukraine 2024. Iryna enjoys the cherry blossoms in the Kyiv Botanical Garden. During that week, she was able to meet her brother, a military medic on the front lines since 2014. We talked about the impact of war on families, separations, and the changes that forever mark lives.

© Federica Lucia Carducci - Image from the Yet still, rebirth. In the ordinary ache of waking. photography project
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Pescara, Italy 2023. The Krupnyk family spent their last days in Italy at the seaside flying kites. At the beginning of autumn in Pescara the wind picks up, the air of change brings the departure and the return home closer. Small moments of happiness and sharing.

© Federica Lucia Carducci - Image from the Yet still, rebirth. In the ordinary ache of waking. photography project
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Pescara, Italy, 2023. Sasha visits the seaside for the first time since the invasion. His third child, Myron, was born in August, exempting him from military service and allowing him to cross the border. He spent two months in Italy with Iryna and their children before returning to Kyiv in November. Their return itself an act of resistance.

© Federica Lucia Carducci - Image from the Yet still, rebirth. In the ordinary ache of waking. photography project
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Villamagna, Chieti, Italy, 2022. Iryna first stayed in Francavilla by the sea, then in the quiet hill village of Villamagna. Like many refugees, she found shelter in empty tourist houses, filled with worn furniture and silence. In one, a carved ship stood still in a dusty cabinet, while her own life turned into a vast and urgent journey.

© Federica Lucia Carducci - Image from the Yet still, rebirth. In the ordinary ache of waking. photography project
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Fenevychi, Kyiv oblast Ukraine 2024. Dasha and Yasya barefoot for the first time. They lie on the lawn in their grandmother's garden on a warm spring day.

© Federica Lucia Carducci - Image from the Yet still, rebirth. In the ordinary ache of waking. photography project
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Fenevychi, Kyiv oblast Ukraine 2022. Nights in Ukraine seem longer. You never know if there will be a missile attack and where it will hit. Who will survive the night? And yet the night is full of pleasures and discoveries. The Milky Way on a cool autumn night in Kyiv Oblast.