Hanna Hrabarska

– це серія фотографій, присвячена людським стосункам з власними тілами

впродовж всього життя ми вкладаємо неймовірну кількість часу й зусиль, щоб удосконалити наше тіло й змусити його розповідати оточуючим історії про таких “нас”, якими нам хотілося себе бачити

я прагну повернути нашим тілам їх власні голоси і дозволити говорити від першої особи – поза контекстом краси, сексуальності, привабливості, віку, національності та будь-якого іншого контексту

My Mom Wants to Go Back Home – this personal work by Ukrainian photographer Hanna Hrabarska chronicles her escape with her mother from Ukraine during the early days of war. Through her lens, Hanna offers a personal glimpse into the challenges they faced, capturing a unique perspective on the realities of war and displacement. Her captivating visual narrative charts their journey from abandoning their homes in Kyiv to finding a new home in Amsterdam.

In early 2024 the project will be published as a photobook by Jap Sam Books in the Netherlands, designed by Mainstudio.

“I’m curious, how were people feeling and what were they doing the day before the Second World War?” I thought about it for a moment. “Well, I don’t know,” I told my friend. “Probably, the same as us”.

We finished the dinner and took a walk around Kyiv city centre. We sat in a small cafe to drink cappuccinos and gossip. I went home early, feeling a wave of anxiety.

Early the next morning, I was lying in bed in complete darkness. Suddenly, I heard the sound of an explosion. I turned on my phone. The news declared: “Putin Invades Ukraine.”

My mom was still offline, so I decided to give her a couple more hours of peaceful rest in my native city, Kryviy Rih. When we finally spoke around 7 a.m. on February 24, I heard sounds on my mother’s end. They too were explosions. That’s how our journey started.

My mom refused to take a train ride to join me and travel west, so I went to Kryvyi Rih to pick her up. In a course of one week I had to abandon my two homes: my little cosy apartment in Kyiv city centre, that I bought just a couple years ago and didn’t even finish renovating; and my mother’s home, where I was born and raised, and where I was coming back every month to spend time with my parents.

In the next few days we went from our hometown through Uzhgorod, Mali Selmentsi, Kosice, Budapest, Munich to finally arrive in the Netherlands to become war refugees. Never in my life could I imagine myself as such.

In a documentary diary project My Mom Wants To Go Back Home I attempt to understand and accept this new identity through following the story of my mother.

Since we left our homes, documenting my mother's journey has given me a deeper understanding of the nature of relationships, home, age and traditions. I believe that through the intimate lens of my project other people will also be able to relate better to what's happening in Ukraine. Because not everyone has an experience of fleeing the war, but each of us has parents that we care about.

na chuzhiy zemli ('on a foreign land') is a story about young Ukrainian refugees, who were supposed to become a future generation of their own country, but have been spread around the world after the brutal Russian invasion.

on a foreign land
what will we build
and to whom shall belong
what we will build
on a foreign land

na chuzhiy zemli ('on a foreign land') is a story about young Ukrainian refugees, who were supposed to become a future generation of their own country, but have been spread around the world after the brutal Russian invasion.

"Zemlia" is a unique word in Ukrainian language, that can be translated as "land", but also "ground", "soil", "Earth" and even "world" itself.

Zemlia was always a central figure of Ukrainian culture, mythology and philosophy, because the battle for our lands never stopped throughout history.

For this new photography project, I ask my young compatriots to lay on the ground in the cities they are living now, all around the world, as a sign of settling down at the foreign lands.

Laying on a ground is also a universal language of protest and resistance, and I combine staged portraits with those taken at meetings in a reportage format.

This project started in 2023 and is ongoing.

In the project “Ongoing” Hanna Hrabarska reflects on how the history of her country transforms into her own life and destiny.

These photos are memory itself, accumulated throughout the years of living in the constantly changing historical landscape of Ukraine. Unlike some of her other, much more intimate photography projects, Hanna Hrabarska images present a bigger picture of Ukraine in time and space — from 2014 till now, from eastern city Kryvyi Rih to Mali Selmentsi on Slovakian border. The journey nearly always leads through Kyiv — a central place in a history of Ukraine and the heart of her personal life; and now the epicenter of Europe and the entire world. Her story and her work, like her personal journey, is on-going.