Ukraine by Eddy van Wessel is not just a photo book — it’s a searing visual and emotional chronicle of a war that reshaped a continent and shattered lives.
Shot over three years, often on analogue film, Van Wessel’s images reveal the fractured landscapes and haunted faces of Ukraine’s soldiers, civilians, and children. Through dirt, blood, and silence, the photos capture what war really looks like when it’s no longer a headline, but a way of life.
In the company of writer Mustafa Can, Van Wessel travelled across frontline towns and bombed-out villages, embedding with young men and women who left behind cafes, universities, and farms to fight. They are photographed not only in battle but in moments of unexpected intimacy — checking phones, comforting comrades, feeding stray dogs. Each frame is a quiet refusal to let humanity be erased.
What sets this work apart is its refusal to sentimentalize or simplify. Whether it’s the shrapnel-torn wheelchair under a mulberry tree, or a wounded couple holding hands beneath a child’s drawing of a dove, the book insists we sit with the complexity of war. Nature blooms even in craters. Devastation becomes a backdrop to a child’s toy or a page from Harry Potter. The war is everywhere, and nowhere is untouched.
Van Wessel doesn’t aim to explain the war. He offers something more urgent: a document of dignity, ruin, and survival — and a protest against indifference. In his own words, he hopes people will “travel to Ukraine inside their mind” and ask: what the hell is going on there? If that question lingers after closing the book, then the photos have done their job.
With an essay by Mustafa Can which adds a profound narrative and philosophical dimension to the work.
