This book traces Ukraine from 2004 to 2024, a period framed here by the Orange Revolution, the 2014 occupation of Crimea, the full-scale outbreak of war in February 2022, and the years that follow. Eighteen international photographers contribute work, among them Sebastian Backhaus, Daniel Berehulak, Massimo Berruti, Roman Bezjak, Kitra Cahana, Emre Caylak, Kirill Golovchenko, Vincent Haiges, Sergey Maximishin, Justyna Mielnikiewicz, Dominic Nahr, Alessandro Penso, Julius Schrank, Maxim Sergienko, Armin Smailovic, Thomas Victor, Marlena Waldthausen and Jonas Wresch. Their images approach the same country through different visual languages, and the shared title speaks of ordinary existence before and amid a long conflict.
The volume is edited by David Rojkowski with Agentur Focus and the Landeszentrale für politische Bildung Hamburg. It carries texts by Sebastian Backhaus, who is also among the photographers, and by Frank Golczewski; the book also includes an interview by David Rojkowski with Kateryna Radchenko. Photographers and essay authors are distinct here, and the book combines their contributions rather than attributing the written commentary to the image-makers. It is published by Hartmann Books in a German and English edition.
The physical book runs 192 pages with 108 illustrations, measuring 20 by 25 centimeters in hardcover, designed by Studio Spading in Lüneburg. German and English texts appear together. The publisher’s own account describes the project as a chronicle assembled from multiple perspectives across two decades, and notes that photography cannot end wars but can make events visible and preserve a record. That framing—making visible and keeping a record—is how the book presents its own purpose.
