It so happens that in the war between Russia and Ukraine there are no friends or foes for me. I was born in Ukraine, but I grew up in Russia.

At the beginning of the war, my close friends found themselves on the side of evil. People who could never ignore the grief of others are now finding excuses for the war. We’ve stopped communicating. I’ve lost a huge piece of myself. Have they become strangers to me?

Life in the midst of evil makes people change. It causes distortions in their behavior and changes personalities. War is evil. And now this evil is all around me. Bridges that took many years to build are been destroyed. People who were parts of me are disappearing.

It is very difficult to resist dehumanization during the war. That is what the “fighting spirit” is based on. It is much easier to kill an impersonal “fascist”, “drug addict”, “Khokhol” than a person like you who also lived, loved, and made plans.

It is easier to hate all Russians than to see in a person — a person in the first place.

While working on this project, I am thinking on the phenomenon of resistance to dehumanization. And I myself try not to succumb to the temptation to divide everyone into friends and strangers, as the line between friends and strangers can be very fine. “Friends” can become “strangers, ” and “strangers” can become “friends” very easily.

Project in progress