Photographer’s Powerful Portraits Show Displaced Ukrainians and Their Destroyed Homeland

Real Hacker Staff

May 31, 2024

92-year-old Elena in front of Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate. The banner photo shows a destroyed residential building in the city of Borodyanka taken by Maxim Donduk.

A photographer found Ukrainian refugees scattered around Europe and took their portrait in front of 10-foot-tall photos depicting what has happened to their home country due to the Russian invasion.

Photographer Danila Tkachenko, who made the powerful project, is from Russia but tells PetaPixel he was forced to leave his home country for vocalizing his opposition to the conflict.

“I openly supported Ukraine and made several anti-war actions in Moscow for which the Russian authorities put me on the wanted list and falsified a criminal case against me,” he says. “They persecuted my family and friends. I managed to leave Russia and seek political asylum in Europe.”

Tkachenko has continued to shine a light on the large-scale invasion of Ukraine by creating the photo project he calls Inversion.

Victoria, 25, in front of the Louvre. The banner photo shows a destroyed residential building in the city of Borodyanka taken by Ulia Ovsyannikova.

Two-year-old Maria in Prague in front of a photo of a collapsed bridge in Irpin taken by Narciso Contreras.

Fedor, 32, in front of Rome’s Colosseum with a photo of a school destroyed by Russian airstrikes. The war photo was taken by Miguel A. Lopes.

Christina, 7, in Paris. The Evgeniy Maloletka photo shows smoke rising above Mauripol.

Ivan, 23, in Pisa, Italy with a photo of a destroyed church taken by Mykhaylo Palinchak.

First, he enlisted nine photojournalists who have been covering the war and exhibited their photos in Milan. Then 12 photographs were selected to be installed on a 9.1 by 12.3 foot (2.8 by 3.76 meter) aluminum frame to act as a contrast to the peaceful European cities that the displaced Ukrainians are living in.

“I made this project to draw the attention of Europeans to Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine, as I believe that the future of peace in Europe depends on the outcome of this war,” Tkachenko tells PetaPixel over email.

“I wanted to convey with this project that the distance between war and peaceful European life is not really that great.

“Today in the accelerating flow of news and events this may not be visible, so it was important for me to bring the horrific reality back into the public eye.”

40-year-old Uliya in Versailles, France. The ruins of Donetsk airport are depicted on the banner photo. Taken by Vasily Maksimov.

Anna, 30, in front of the Eiffel Tower. With her is a photo of house ruins in Chernigiv, Ukraine.

Natalia in Milan with a photo of a fire-ravaged building in Lugansk. Taken by Maxim Donduk.

The Rialto Bridge in Venice looms over Vladlena, 25, as she poses with a photo of destroyed An-225 cargo airplane. Taken by Alexey Furman.

11-year-old Aleksandr in Strasbourg, France stands in front of houses wiped out in Izium, Ukraine taken by Evgeniy Maloletka.

Alla, 60, stands in Vatican City with a photo of a wrecked village in Yatskivka. The photo was taken by Laurence Geai.

The photos were shot in Berlin, Paris, Rome, Venice, Prague, and other European cities. He often only had a short time to shoot the photo until police arrived and asked them to move on.

“I did not make permission for shooting, we brought the photo to the place I chose beforehand and quickly made a portrait.”

More of Tkachenko’s work can be found on his website and Facebook.

Image credits: Photographs by Danila Tkachenko.

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