Neak, a 43-year-old Ukrainian graffiti artist, mixes inexperienced paint at a workshop in Kyiv, Ukraine. His ETC graffiti crew works to camouflage automobiles to be despatched east to the entrance line of the war with Russia.
Natalie Keyssar
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Neak, a 43-year-old Ukrainian graffiti artist, mixes inexperienced paint at a workshop in Kyiv, Ukraine. His ETC graffiti crew works to camouflage automobiles to be despatched east to the entrance line of the war with Russia.
Natalie Keyssar
In an auto storage in an industrial district of Kyiv, Ukraine, the staff are busy. Damaged automobiles are hauled by means of the gates at common intervals with shattered home windows and gouged our bodies. Cars are pieced collectively, home windows changed, holes patched. Others are available intact and go straight to the again for a makeover, the place 4 males in respiratory masks sweat as they work in a haze of aerosol paint, masking every car in distinctive mixtures of inexperienced, brown, grey and auburn with the practiced, fluid actions of their spray cans.
Before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, this was an everyday auto physique store, and the painters had been one among Kyiv’s well-known graffiti crews, ETC, portray buildings and murals. Now, the graffiti writers work full time to camouflage automobiles for their navy earlier than they ship them east.
The Ukrainian war effort has been cobbled collectively by means of crowdfunding and volunteer initiatives. Along with drones, medical kits and physique armor, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have donated personal autos to assist transport their defenders at the entrance, and chipped in for the buy of automobiles and vans from overseas.
Like so many Ukrainians, Neak, 43, one among the painters, requested himself what he may do to greatest support the navy when the full-scale invasion started. He shortly realized his experience with graffiti allowed him to excellent the complicated artwork of obscuring autos from snipers, artillery and the digital eyes of Russian drones. He’s requested to be recognized solely by his graffiti identify to defend his security and the security of their challenge.
A painter provides darkish pink spots to a truck to camouflage with the reddish grime and dust typically present in Ukraine’s east and south.
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Left: A painter mixes paint for a number of automobiles that want to be camouflaged that day. Right: A painter provides darkish pink spots to a truck to camouflage with the reddish grime and dust typically present in Ukraine’s east and south.
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For most of the past two years, ETC has painted practically 5 days every week. They estimate they’ve performed over 600 automobiles, a number of tanks and not too long ago a helicopter. They do the work on a volunteer foundation and fundraise their personal supplies for the trigger once they want to.
“There are no true blacks or whites in nature, so we’re careful to cover those. Anything shiny — a mirror or piece of metal — might attract snipers,” Neak explains. Sometimes, they journey to the entrance themselves to paint tanks and bigger autos to higher match the altering seasons or a brand new location.
He typically chats immediately with the troopers who will use the automobile so as to get the colours proper. “I ask what direction — south or east, because east is more green forest, and south is more like desert; still green, but more brown and terracotta. In Donbas, the soil is reddish. No two cars are the same,” Neak says. He laughs — typically, it’s arduous to extract the palette from these conversations. “They say, ‘Here there is a lot of dirt,’ and I say, ‘OK, but is it red or brown or gray?’ They say, ‘It’s dirt!’ Then I maybe ask for a picture.”
Neak removes the masking from the home windows of a freshly painted truck.
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Neak removes the masking from the home windows of a freshly painted truck.
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Left: A painter provides darkish pink spots to a truck to camouflage with the reddish grime and dust typically present in Ukraine’s east and south. Right: A element of a wheel of a newly painted truck.
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Too typically, they see the automobiles they’ve painted come again in items, and after they’re repaired, they begin over. With many associates and former crew members combating at the entrance, they struggle arduous to give attention to the job they’ll do and the way it helps. As the war drags on, lots of the painters have left the craft to combat at the entrance traces. Currently there are solely two ETC members left portray in Kyiv, the relaxation are combating.
In Maidan Square, in central Kyiv, pedestrians hustle throughout the sprawling plaza to and from work. People line up at kiosks for espresso and scorching canines. Couples eat ice cream and consumers mill out and in of close by shops. Girls promote bracelets to elevate cash for the armed forces and households pay their respects at a memorial made up of hundreds of Ukrainian flags planted in the floor, every representing one among the nation’s fallen troopers. In February, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy introduced that about 31,000 Ukrainian troopers had died since the full-scale invasion started, however many imagine the precise quantity is larger, and has definitely climbed dramatically in latest months. Many fallen troopers started their combat in Maidan 10 years in the past, when the “Revolution of Dignity” ousted Russian-backed President Viktor Yanukovych and Russia responded by annexing Crimea, starting the many years lengthy battle that escalated with Russia’s full-scale invasion.
The Phantom Blue dance squad rehearses choreography for their subsequent public taping and efficiency in a studio on the outskirts of Kyiv.
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The Phantom Blue dance squad rehearses choreography for their subsequent public taping and efficiency in a studio on the outskirts of Kyiv.
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After every take, Phantom Blue dancers examine the recording for errors to appropriate and methods to enhance.
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After every take, Phantom Blue dancers examine the recording for errors to appropriate and methods to enhance.
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Members of the Phantom Blue dance squad take a break resting on the ground after rehearsal.
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Members of the Phantom Blue dance squad take a break resting on the ground after rehearsal.
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Perched on a large terraced staircase on the sq., a bunch of about 15 teenage ladies strikes out and in of choreographed formations with practiced ease in coordinated outfits. They dance and lip-synch immediately right into a digicam mounted on a gimbal as a Ok-pop monitor loops from a transportable speaker. At the finish of every take, they cluster round the digicam’s LCD display to play again their efficiency, scanning for errors in their choreography and laughing.
The ladies go by Phantom Blue they usually’re a part of a global neighborhood who do Ok-pop cowl dances. They mimic the choreography and styling of Ok-pop tracks, tape them in public locations and compete on-line for views and likes.
For every cowl, the dancers hire a rehearsal house and drill the strikes to perfection, and make distinctive costumes with particular ideas and themes, in addition to outtake movies and video games to play for their viewers. They select stage names and favourite talismans and equipment, and associates, companions and households come out to assist with cameras, hair, make-up and snacks. They repeat the dance time and again till their chief, Yulya Batrak, who goes by Kora, deems it excellent, as they appeal to curious and admiring stares from tons of of passersby. On this stormy day in Kyiv, they danced in a light-weight drizzle after which scurried beneath umbrellas to defend their cameras and make-up till the clouds handed they usually may begin once more.
Phantom Blue Ok-pop cowl dance crew performs and data in Maidan Square, surrounded by family and friends who come to support, assist with hair and make-up, and cheer them on.
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Phantom Blue Ok-pop cowl dance crew performs and data in Maidan Square, surrounded by family and friends who come to support, assist with hair and make-up, and cheer them on.
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Friends of the Phantom Blue Ok-pop cowl dance crew collect on the steps of Maidan Square to watch and cheer as the group data a efficiency.
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Phantom Blue Ok-pop dance squad performs and data a number of takes till they’re sure they get it proper.
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Phantom Blue Ok-pop dance squad performs and data a number of takes till they’re sure they get it proper.
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Crews like this may be present in public areas and video-sharing platforms throughout the world, however beneath Phantom Blue’s movies, there’s all the time a hyperlink to a crowdfunding platform the place the group’s supporters can donate cash for Ukraine’s navy. Their takes are typically interrupted by air raid sirens and typically the sound of Kyiv’s formidable air protection system. When requested what number of members had associates, companions or household in the navy, the reply got here with lowered heads and unhappy eyes — just about everybody.
Kora, the workforce’s 20-year-old chief, says she typically appears like she’s “living a divided reality. I’m dancing and I feel normal, then you open your phone and Russia has bombed another city … but dancing helps us keep calm. Life goes on and war goes on, but when we’re dancing, we feel we have courage and power.”
A Phantom Blue dancer rests her head on a buddy’s foot on the steps of Maidan Square between recordings.
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A Phantom Blue dancer rests her head on a buddy’s foot on the steps of Maidan Square between recordings.
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Left: Phantom Blue dancers hug and snort after they end a recording take. Right: Phantom Blue dancers clap their arms collectively throughout recording.
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Phantom Blue Ok-pop dance squad performs and data in Maidan Square.
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Phantom Blue Ok-pop dance squad performs and data in Maidan Square.
Natalie Keyssar
The Cultural Forces: Music on the entrance traces
As Ukraine now enters a tough summer time with worldwide assist wavering and Russian assaults grinding away at its territory whereas terrorizing its cities, there’s a pervasive recognition of the more and more essential position the arts can play virtually and psychologically at combating the invisible wounds the nation faces, collectively.
In Novohrodivs’ka, a village in japanese Ukraine, troopers of all ages have faces creased with the weight of latest combating. They sit in the shade of deserted fruit bushes exterior a house whose house owners have lengthy since fled west. There’s an eerie stillness throughout their facial expressions, one thing past weariness, one thing vacant and painful.
A band of troopers performs a live performance for troopers close to the entrance traces in japanese Ukraine’s Donbas area.
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One band member performs a trumpet and one other performs a saxophone in their Cultural Forces efficiency in japanese Ukraine’s Donbas area.
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As they wait, I sense that point strikes in another way right here. Maria Petrovska emerges from a shed behind a tree, in an olive inexperienced Ukrainian Vyshyvanka shirt, holding a bandura, a Ukrainian instrument someplace between a lute and a harp, and she or he slowly begins to draw a soothing melody from its strings.
Heavy eyes sharpen on her as her voice joins the chords. There’s an occasional rumble of outgoing hearth lower than a mile away, however everybody right here is used to that. Petrovska, who selected to come residence to Ukraine on break from her research at BIMM Music Institute in Manchester, England, begins to sing to the crowd of perhaps 40. Their drained our bodies start to lean ahead. She closes her eyes as she sings the first track, a conventional Ukrainian love ballad, and the troopers start to thaw. One loosens his grip on the computerized rifle in his lap and his arduous jaw softens. The second track is defiant and patriotic and some crack smiles. When she performs Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah,” just a few wipe tears from their eyes. I hesitate to {photograph} the second as a result of it feels sacred, however no one appears to thoughts as I elevate my digicam.
Soldiers hear as Bandura participant Maria Petrovska performs as a part of a live performance for troopers close to the entrance traces in japanese Ukraine’s Donbas area.
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Left: The troopers document with their telephones and a few wipe tears from their eyes whereas a band of troopers performs a live performance for troopers close to the entrance traces. Right: Right: Valery Dzekh, an artist from Kharkiv, tells a narrative by means of a efficiency with puppets for the troopers.
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Petrovska is adopted by Valery Dzekh, who tells a narrative of obligation and redemption by means of a stunning medium for the entrance traces: puppets. The artist from Kharkiv and son of a soldier weaves a narrative meant to encourage defenders to maintain combating when morale is low, by means of the actions of handmade collectible figurines in a small pit of sand sculpted by his spouse again residence. The day ends with a extra upbeat efficiency from a brass band, all sporting fatigues. The music will get raucous sufficient that I fear about the noise we’re making simply a few miles from the entrance, however I’m comforted that none of the folks right here who know war far too nicely appear to be involved.
The musicians are a part of a program referred to as the Cultural Forces, an initiative based by Mykolai Sierga, a well-known Ukrainian musician and TV persona, that brings Ukrainian artists and musicians collectively to carry out and lift morale for fighters from the entrance traces to navy hospitals. The troupe of musicians and artists tour the entrance traces in a scorching van, giving a number of concert events a day to brigades who’ve typically simply returned from heavy combating.
After a band of troopers performs a live performance for fellow troops close to the entrance traces, the entire unit who attended indicators a flag for the band.
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Left: Bandura participant Maria Petrovska performs as a part of a live performance for troopers close to the entrance traces in the Donbas with the cultural forces. Right: Soldiers hear as Petrovska performs.
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Ukrainian troopers watch a music efficiency in a driveway of the residence the place at the moment getting used as a base, on the entrance in japanese Ukraine.
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This challenge was supported by the International Women’s Media Foundation.
Natalie Keyssar is a documentary photographer primarily based in Brooklyn, New York. See extra of her work on her web site nataliekeyssar.com or on instagram @nataliekeyssar.
Photo edit by Grace Widyatmadja. Text edit by Zachary Thompson and Alex Leff.
