REPORTING OF WAR, AWAY FROM THE FRONTLINES

Russia invaded Ukraine on 24 February 2022, escalating the Russo-Ukrainian War which had begun in 2014. During the past eleven weeks, photographers and journalists have reported from field, many of the images have captured the deadly events that have taken place.

We have invited a group of photographers, whose work have contributed to the ongoing documentation, with photographs that unearth stories away from the frontlines, such as the displaced within the country and events at the borders. Carolina Rapezzi , one of the guest photographers, explains: according to the latest IOM report (17 April 2022) there are 7,707,000 Internally displaced people in Ukraine. 2,850,000 of this are in West Ukraine. Chernivtsi, the last Ukrainian city before the Romanian border, has become a refuge for roughly over 100,000 displaced Ukrainians, 33,341 are children and 82,340 are now officially registered with IDP status. These are stories I found between Chernivtsi and Siret, the first Romanian city after the Ukrainian border, that has instead become a crossroads, for the ones leaving the country.

We are incredibly honoured to present to you all our guests photographers Carolina Rapezzi, Hether Ng and Natalia Campos who have been covering the war in Ukraine and will be sharing their powerful photography, insights and stories from within the war ravaged country.

Carolina Rapezzi is an Italian freelance photographer based in London who works on social, humanitarian and environmental issues. She started working on migration issues in 2015, documenting the welcoming systems for minors arriving from Libya on the Sicilian coasts ("Minors on the Move" September 2015) and, after a few months, began a project that lasted eight months covering the eviction of the refugee camp of Calais, France (“The Eviction” March-October 2016). Moved to London in 2013, she photographs various protest movements, including those on the Brexit Referendum and the more recent Black Lives Matter. In 2017 she begins a long-term project on identity and gender ("It was meant to be" April 2017 - 2020).In since 2018 and 2019 she started working on environmental issues with a focus on electronic waste and disposal systems ("Burning Dreams" October 2018 - November 2019). In May 2020 she covered the Covid19 pandemic in London, documenting from a homeless hostel and since 2019 she has been working on a project on knife crime and its social roots in London.

Yuen Ching (Hesther) Ng, a London-based Hong Kong photographer who was born in 1992. Currently, she is studying to be a photojournalist from the University of the Arts London (UAL). Her press works are mainly focusing on breaking news and protests. They can be found in various national and international media outlets such as The Guardian, Forbes, BBC, The Times, Metro, and Yahoo! News, CNN, the Wall Street Journal etc. Being born and raised in different countries, she develops a keen interest in documenting the displacement of people and cultures around the world through her lenses. Apart from photography, she is a qualified clinical pharmacist practising in London and an independent journalist from HK Feature.

Natalia Campos is a self-taught freelance photographer originally from Rio de Janeiro, Brazil but based for the past six years in Dublin, Ireland. In her three years as a photographer she has documented protests, news events, and everyday life in countries such as Northern Ireland, Portugal, Turkey, and Georgia. She has recently reported on the humanitarian crisis in Ukraine as a result of the Russian invasion. She is interested in social and political concerns and has collaborated with non-governmental organizations that promote minority rights, equality, and human's rights.

Cover photo ©Carolina Rapezzi

©Hesther Ng

©Natalia Campos

The Photojournalism Hub holds the vision of a world free of social injustice and human rights abuses. It promotes photojournalism and the advancement of independent journalism to expose and engage the public to social justice and human rights abuses and through training in photojournalism it empowers disadvantaged, marginalised individuals and communities to tell their stories and bring about recommendations and actions for policy change. www.photojournalismhub.org