From Kyiv with Love - a photo essay
* Locals prefer the usage of Kyiv to the internationally recognised Kiev
Kyiv in Solidarity
Protesters in Kyiv gather around a large banner singing an anthem in solidarity with the Global Climate March. Protest rallies were held in cities and towns around the world just before the COP21 conference was due to begin in Paris. November 2015.
Vantage Point
Photojournalists and photographers covering the Global Climate March rally in Kyiv.
A Busker and His Accordion
A man busks with his accordion in one of the many underground subway stations built during the Soviet era in Kyiv, Ukraine.
I have been following the crisis in Ukraine since the Euromaidan protests at the end of 2013 and the ensuing 2014 Ukrainian Revolution. Interested in exploring how people in the face of conflict and social unrest meet the attendant cultural, moral and societal challenges, I went to Kyiv (Kiev) in November-December 2015.
While there, I observed a society on the cusp of change and globalisation trying to hang on to traditions and the memory of its Soviet past. The often tenuous relationship between collective beliefs and independent thought playing out on the streets, on social media, and behind closed doors. It is a society hungry for change though mostly disillusioned and disaffected by the freely-elected post-revolution government many see as ineffective, to say the least; wary it is caught in the middle of a political tug-of-war between the West and Russia, but hopeful the ongoing conflict in the separatist-held territories in the east will come to an end, even as the world’s attentions are diverted elsewhere.
In Remembrance of the Holodomor
Candles are placed and lit as Ukrainians remember the Holodomor, also known as the Terror-Famine. It was a man-made famine that killed millions of Soviet Ukrainians in the years 1932-33, now widely considered a genocide carried out against the Ukrainians by the Soviet Union. Fourth Saturday of November, 2015.
Maidan Nezalezhnosti
Maidan Nezalezhnosti means Independence Square, so named after Ukraine declared independence in 1991. Also simply known as Maidan which means 'square', it has been and continues to be central to civic engagement, political activities and rallies in Kyiv, including the Euromaidan protests leading up to the 2014 Ukrainian Revolution.
Ukrainian Nationalists March
Nationalists march through Maidan during the Holodomor remembrance weekend alongside a Euromaidan Revolution photography project. Calling for support and recognition, they bring attention to the civil war against pro-Russian separatists in the eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk (better known collectively as the Donbass region).
Show of Might
Armoured vehicles on public display in a square outside government buildings in central Kyiv.
Pray
A woman in prayer.
The Faithful
The head of a Ukrainian Orthodox Church monastery and a churchgoer at the end of a ceremony.
Tough Times
An unmaintained fountain in one of Kyiv's international hotels.
All photos in this series shot on black & white film