Natalia
Last name hidden for safety reasons100x100 cm
Archival digital print on paper
Andrejs Strokins
Riga, Latvia2024
Transcription under the portrait
Audio transcription
Four o’clock in the morning on 24 February 2022... Kharkiv . The first city in Ukraine to be hit by war. We woke up to the sounds of explosions. Life was divided into before and after.
Kharkiv. The night. DOZENS OF DEAD.
Bodies under the rubble.
People wanted to live so much.
The blood was baked like resin.
A moment and all: life is a ruin.
A woman's scream. Black smoke.
The whole family burned there.
There are prayers to all the saints.
Fear, death, despair, loss, rape, hopelessness and an incredibly strong desire to save the lives of children, because they had just started to live.
I would like to read a poem written by 12-year-old Kharkiv resident Polina.
Peace. Silence. Calm. Ukraine.
These thoughts came together in unison.
I am 12, I am just a child.
But, unfortunately, there is a war, and this is not a dream.
Death, explosions, military operations.
They made us adults.
We will collect our dreams in our palms.
Because who else will collect them if not us.
Hope, Faith. THE SUN IS AT ITS ZENITH.
It is calm, quiet and the gardens are blooming.
I am 12 and I want to live.
In a peaceful Ukraine forever.
THIS IS THE ONLY THING ALL UKRAINIANS WANT - A SPEEDY END TO THE WAR.