Jen Osborne: When I think about Ukraine…

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ONE PHOTO

18.03.2022

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“When I think about Ukraine, this picture comes to mind. It shows my husband, Sasha, and one of his comrades. The Russo-Ukrainian War brought Sasha and I together in July 2015. We met at the Ukrainian army’s Donbass battalion base camp. Like many young men at war, Sasha was just a civilian dragged into combat without much of a choice. I returned to Ukraine when Sasha got out of the army in April 2016. He replaced my professional guide, Vladimir. Together, we explored Ukraine’s brutal, mesmerising charm. My encounters with Ukraine lasted from 2015 to 2017. Going back and forth, between Kiev and Berlin, I photographed stories of war. When I needed a break, I focused on Ukrainian culture and art. I met fashion designers and performance artists – magnificent people who used talent, not bullets, as weapons in life.
Months later, Sasha and I married in Obolon, a working-class neighbourhood near central Kiev and a year after we married, we immigrated to Canada, where I hold rights to import my husband. We didn’t want to leave Europe, but, as a trained soldier, Sasha’s life was at risk at home.

Tucked safely away on northern Vancouver Island, Sasha watched from his iPad as Putin invaded Ukraine in February 2022. In that very same neighbourhood where we married six years before, an armoured Russian vehicle drove over a civilian car. I see his desire to go back, to support his people and fight. Sasha’s life may still exist because I removed him from Ukraine. But I know he’s not happy here, in this land with money that lacks soul. In relationships, we surrender ourselves to each other. I once thought I sacrificed my exciting life in Europe, to bring my husband to Canada. But I now understand that Sasha gave up his identity for me. He’s not at peace with his new life.

For Sasha, Ukraine is a concept – a representation of his heart and a symbol of freedom. For his nation’s sovereignty, he’s willing to die. He may soon go back to fight. Then what choice do I have? I’ll go back with him to take pictures. I’ll do what I do best.”

Text and image: © Jen Osborne

I asked Sasha if I could take a photo, minutes after he first came to say hi, on the first day that we met. Sasha (right) posed with his friend Levko (left). This was a Donbass Battalion base, set-up in Cherkaske Ukraine, where Sasha was training as a soldier at that time.

Jen Osborne

Jen Osborne is a Canadian photographer whose work has appeared in international publications such as Stern, The Sunday Times, The New York Times and Maclean's. She has had numerous exhibitions, including at Visa pour l’image in Perpignan, the Aperture Gallery and Les Rencontres d’Arles. Her current projects deal with volunteer militias in the USA, and the rescue of wild animals following the bush fires in Australia.

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Jen Osborne: When I think about Ukraine…

ONE PHOTO

18.03.2022

Jen Osborne

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