War inscriptions — Alena Grom

“Inscriptions of War” is a series of photographs from the project “The Art of Living in the Critical Zone”, which I have been photographing since the de-occupation of Bucha in the spring of 2022. At the end of March, Russian troops left the city. In the de-occupied zone, I often came across inscriptions that appeared as a result of military operations. This is a special language of war. Everywhere there were occupiers, there were symbols of the Russian invasion of Ukraine — “Z” and “V”. There were signs that urged people to be careful and could save lives: “Beware of mines,” “Beware of debris,” “Not cleared,” “Mines,” “Bomb shelter.” With the help of inscriptions, the Russians intimidated people and gave orders to the local population: “Stop, they’re shooting!”, “The movement of civilians is prohibited,” “Execution when crossing the restricted zone.” On houses and fences, local residents left messages for the looters: “There is nothing here,” “Mined,” “Death to the looters.” On the streets of the city there were inscriptions in Ukrainian, in which one could feel the confrontation, hope and faith in victory: “We will win!”, “Peace”, “Peace be with you”,
Russians wrote in Russian, addressing the local population, or leaving a message for their own. In the hope that Russian soldiers would read the inscriptions in Russian and not shoot, local residents wrote in Russian: “Children,” “People live here,” “Peaceful people.” But this did not stop the Russians, I saw many shot cars and houses with such inscriptions. In one of the houses, the Russian occupiers wrote a cynical, illiterate inscription on the wall to justify their crimes: “this is an order, sorry.”

The inscription on the main street of the city «Shooting when crossing the restricted zone» Ukraine. Bucha. Summer 2022.

The inscription «The movement of civilians is prohibited.» Ukraine. Borodyanka 2022.

The inscription «Stop Shooting». Ukraine. Borodyanka 2022.

Inscription «V», «Colonel Lashkin». Ukraine. Borodyanka 2022.

Road sign. Local residents painted over settlements on road signs so that Russian troops would not be able to navigate the terrain. Ukraine. Gostomel 2022.

The inscription «There are people», «Children». Ukraine. Gostomel.

The inscription «Children». Ukraine. Gostomel 2022.

The inscription «Peace to the world» «Accepted observe». Borodyaka 2022.

The inscription «Better a terrible end than horror without end.» Gostomel 2022.

The inscription «People». Ukraine. Bucha 2022.

The inscription «People». Ukraine. Gostomel 2022.

The inscription «Children». Ukraine. Gostomel 2022.

The inscription «SOS», «Peace be with you!». Ukraine. Gostomel 2022.

The inscription «Peace!». Ukraine. Borodyanka 2022.

The inscription «Death to marauders». Ukraine. Gostomel 2022.

The inscription «We can overcome!». Ukraine. Irpin 2022.

The inscription «Echo of wine». Ukraine. Irpin 2022.

The inscription «Will». Ukraine. Irpin 2022.

The inscription «Respect!!! Do not forget your place of knowledge! It is fenced.» Ukraine. Pushcha-Voditsa 2022.

The inscription «Russian ship go to». Ukraine. Irpin 2022.

The inscription «Do not park». Ukraine. Irpin 2022.

The inscription «Never give up 33:12». Ukraine. Gorenka 2022.

The inscription «Mi order». Ukraine. Makarov 2022.

Letter «V» corrected for Ukrainian trident. Ukraine. Borodyanka 2022.

The inscription «We want to live here.» Ukraine. Borodyanka 2022.

The inscription «23 fierce. Cool robot.». School. Ukraine. Buzovaya 2022.

The inscription «The toilet is not working. Just a little child!». A toilet in a bomb shelter in which Russian soldiers held more than 100 people, including children. Ukraine. Bucha 2022.