Russian War Crimes
On the 23rd of May 2022, during the annual meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, the Russian War Crimes House exhibition took place in the former Russian House. A symbolic gesture to bring the horrific reality of Russia's aggression in Ukraine to the attention of the world.
The project captured the world's media and became the most spoken about subject in Davos. Now the exhibition is presented at the NATO Headquarters and will be shown in the European Parliament in September.
Initially, the idea was to present this project in parallel with the When Faith Moves Mountains exhibition, but we decided to unite them. At this point, any conversation relating to art in Kyiv starts from its relation to this surpassing disaster. The Russian War Crimes is therefore the end of the trajectory, but its contents are present from the very first moment one enters the PinchukArtCentre. The photos become a collective image created by photographers who have been a part of an evidence-gathering effort to document and register the Russians' war crimes against the Ukrainians. Its imagery is a key reference for thoughts and minds through the When Faith Moves Mountains. This deliberate inclusion focuses on reality, addressing its urgency and its inescapability.
The photographs have been taken all over Ukraine since the start of the war until the beginning of July. Even so, they only address a fraction of the known crimes. The Russian War Crimes House is culminating in a film work by Oleksiy Sai who brought together 6400 different verified images of war crimes committed by Russians in Ukraine. The massive scale of this work combined with the aggressive editing and sound forces a state of permanent shock.
The Russian War Crimes organised by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation and PinchukArtCentre in partnership with the Office of the President of Ukraine,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Ukrainska Pravda and the Ukrainian association of professional photographers.
The present exhibition is curated by Björn Geldhof, Artistic Director of the PinchukArtCentre and Ksenia Malykh, Head of the PinchukArtCentre Research Platform.
Maxim Dondyuk
Residential building on Lobanovskoho Avenue in which the shell got. The apartments were destroyed in the part of the building on the three floors – from the 18th to the 20th. According to rescuers, there are no victims. Most residents at the time of the attack were in the shelter.
26.02.2022
Kyiv
George Ivanchenko
The Central Stadium of Mykolayiv was bombed by Russia.
June 2022Mykolayiv
Mstyslav Chernov
A medical worker walks through the hall of a maternity hospital damaged in a shelling attack in Mariupol. Associated Press journalists, who have been reporting from inside blockaded Mariupol since early in the war, documented this attack on the hospital and saw the victims and damage firsthand. They shot video and photos of several bloodstained, pregnant mothers fleeing the blown-out maternity ward, while medics are shouting, children crying.
9.03.2022Mariupol
Philip Cheung
The aftermath of the Russian shelling of the city's commercial area.
25.03.2022Kharkiv
Photos below are open for usage by mass media.
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Photographs provided by the PinchukArtCentre © 2022. Photographed by Sergey Illin.