The photo project “I’m not a victim. I’m a survivor” was prepared by Berlin activists including Oleksandra Bienert from Cinemova. It will be held from 30.09.2022 to 3.10.2022 at Kunstquartier Bethanien Studio 1.
The project includes a photo series of 18 women in different age categories who fled to Berlin because of the Russian war in Ukraine. Women are originally coming from Kyiv, Irpin (Kyiv region), Kremenchuk and Kharkiv. The war and the refugee situation deprives the refugees of their usual roles. In the unfamiliar surroundings, they are no longer perceived as doctors, intellectuals, experts or singers, but above all as refugees, as victims and – as these people feel – reduced to this role.
The aim of the project was to counteract this situation and perception and to leave it up to the women portrayed in the series to decide which image of them is to be created and made visible to the public. The portraits were taken in March-May 2022 in black and white against a white background using a large format camera. For each portrait there is a short text about the portrayed protagonist, which arose from an interview between the photographer and the woman portrayed Berlin and about the situation in Ukraine in order to work out common solutions for the challenges associated with the flight.
Our representatives are members of the Civil Society Advisory Board Ukraine at the Governing Mayor of Berlin and members of the State Civil Society Coordination Round Ukraine at the Federal Ministry of the Interior.
