This photo shows Ira from the Ukrainian team, travelling by train to Kyiv. If you look carefully you’ll see that the train window is covered in plastic tape. This is to protect the occupants of the train in the event of a bomb blast. Normal life in Ukraine has completely changed. “Everything is different; nothing is untouched by Russia’s war on Ukraine” – says Innovista International Director Jason Lane, recently returned from a trip to Ukraine.
The plastic tape will stop the window shattering in the event of a blast. It also stops passengers seeing through it. The blurriness of the view feels like a metaphor for life in Ukraine right now.
Nothing is clear, and everything is blurry.
It is impossible to plan, and no one knows what is happening next. The people express a profound sense of collective trauma, and a deep insecurity as they look into their futures. The rebuilding of life in Ukraine feels a long way off.
