For almost a year now we have been working with the Irish Red Cross and Roddy Doyle’s Fighting Words charity to produce images for a book of poems and memoirs written by Ukrainian women in Ireland.
“We were acutely aware at Fighting Words of President Zelenskiy speaking many times of the importance of story and of bearing witness, of artists writing and talking about what is happening in Ukraine – to ensure no one can ever say they didn’t know.”
- Seán Love, co-founder of Fighting Words.
"I used to love chocolate. A lot. But on this trip, I can’t eat a bite. I’m keeping it for those men with machine guns, who are standing at the most distant checkpoints. For men who have had no rest since the 24th of February. For those who are holding our sky on their shoulders. A bite of chocolate, a small piece of warmth, care, and hope. I hope to see them again on my way back."
- Olha K.
From an early age, my reality was torn between two countries - Russia and Ukraine. After the explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant my mother was worried about how the radiation would affect her children, and, as soon as she became pregnant with my brother, she went to give birth in Moscow where her parents lived. A year later, in 1987, I was born in Moscow too. Raising two small children at this time meant not always having food, clothing, or toys for them, so my parents made the decision to separate me and my brother. I stayed in Moscow until I was five years old, where my grandparents became my parents. When it was time to go to school and return to my family in Ukraine, I didn’t understand why I had to leave my grandparents. However, my things were packed, my mother came to get me, and the Moscow-Kyiv train №90 was waiting for us. I was crying, almost convulsing, as the train moved off and the faces of my grandparents outside the window moved further and further away. Grandpa ran after the train, which was the last straw.
- Katya H.
The book launch at Vicar Street featured many of the seventeen Ukrainian writers reading passages from their poems and memoirs, along with performances by Ukrainian and Irish musicians, and an exhibition of the photographs we produced for the project.
"In a war situation or where violence & injustice are prevalent, poetry is called upon as something more than a thing of beauty."
- Seamus Heaney
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