Perspectives Shortlist

Since Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, almost 14,000 civilians have been killed and over 35,000 wounded. Images of the conflict are often taken by photojournalists at a distance, but this is not the war the photographer will remember. While submitting work to photography festivals, she encountered projects by fellow Ukrainians, their collective gaze shaped by compassion and rage. She realised their pain reaches beyond physical destruction — although the world can see what is happening in Ukraine, only those living there can truly feel it. Circle captures everyday life in Ukraine from a local perspective, where everything speaks of war. Yet there is no visible combat in the photographs; only the dates and times reveal the context. This is not documentary photography, but the gaze of a Ukrainian woman who, like many others, ‘feels guilt for surviving, for doing too little, for not winning — and for being a woman and escaping conscription so easily.’