Posted on Oct 13, 2022
Photographer documents atrocities of war in Ukraine while distributing humanitarian aid
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You might remember Mark Neville — the British ex-pat who moved to Ukraine shortly after the 2014 war in Crimea. He says he fell in love with the country, as well as the Ukrainian woman he would soon marry. Since then, he’s used his camera lens to document the lives of Ukrainians, including some of the 2.5 million people displaced by the earlier war.
It was his fear of new war that inspired his first book, “Stop Tanks with Books,” a stunning collection of photographs of Ukrainians. He sent the volume to 750 world leaders, hoping to bring attention to the region and just maybe prevent a new war.
Ironically, the book was released just as the new Russian incursion into Ukraine began. A week later, Neville and his wife Lukeriia were forced to flee their home in Kyiv, joining a million others as refugees first in Poland and then in western Europe. But the pull of Ukraine, his adopted home, was too strong and Neville returned to Kyiv, eventually convincing his wife to join him.
It was his fear of new war that inspired his first book, “Stop Tanks with Books,” a stunning collection of photographs of Ukrainians. He sent the volume to 750 world leaders, hoping to bring attention to the region and just maybe prevent a new war.
Ironically, the book was released just as the new Russian incursion into Ukraine began. A week later, Neville and his wife Lukeriia were forced to flee their home in Kyiv, joining a million others as refugees first in Poland and then in western Europe. But the pull of Ukraine, his adopted home, was too strong and Neville returned to Kyiv, eventually convincing his wife to join him.
Photographer documents atrocities of war in Ukraine while distributing humanitarian aid
Posted from wbur.org
Photography
Russia
Ukraine
United Kingdom
Posted >1 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Neville hopes that people who engage with his photos and see the humanity in them will be inspired not only to donate to his charity, but also to find other ways of opposing the war.
As his country struggles with the trauma of war, Neville admits there are images and people, who will stay with him as well. Among them are children who posed for him in a bombed bus in Bohdanivka.
Neville says he asked the kids what they’d like him to photograph next and they answered that they’d like him to come back when their school has been rebuilt and “photograph that, please.”
“That completely reduced me to tears,” he says.
‘Masha, 17 years old, with her mother Nina, just after de-occupation of Termakhivka in Kyiv Region’ (Mark Neville)
Neville also describes a mother and daughter — Nina and Masha — who run a farm outside Kyiv. Masha, Neville says, cut all her hair off in the first days of the war after her mother told her that she might be raped by Russian soldiers.
“She did everything to diminish that possibility,” he says, adding that he’s moved by people’s incredible strength and “refusal to give in.”
..."Neville hopes that people who engage with his photos and see the humanity in them will be inspired not only to donate to his charity, but also to find other ways of opposing the war.
As his country struggles with the trauma of war, Neville admits there are images and people, who will stay with him as well. Among them are children who posed for him in a bombed bus in Bohdanivka.
Neville says he asked the kids what they’d like him to photograph next and they answered that they’d like him to come back when their school has been rebuilt and “photograph that, please.”
“That completely reduced me to tears,” he says.
‘Masha, 17 years old, with her mother Nina, just after de-occupation of Termakhivka in Kyiv Region’ (Mark Neville)
Neville also describes a mother and daughter — Nina and Masha — who run a farm outside Kyiv. Masha, Neville says, cut all her hair off in the first days of the war after her mother told her that she might be raped by Russian soldiers.
“She did everything to diminish that possibility,” he says, adding that he’s moved by people’s incredible strength and “refusal to give in.”
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