LuganoPhotoDays 2014
LuganoPhotoDays
Paolo Ciregia
Rust-Ukraine Revolution
In November 2013 people started to gather on Independence Square
(Maidan Nezalezhnosti) in the center of Kiev. In January 2014 the situation intensified with violence in the streets, hundreds of people injured, activists disappeared from hospitals where they were treated, kidnapped, tortured, and, in one case murdered in a forest near Kiev. After three months of large protests, thousands of riot police attacked the protest camp in the central square in Kiev, resulting in clashes and gunfire that left at least 100 people dead and 571 wounded.
In my work I focused on individuals and this led me to spot a certain surreal calm in the maelstrom of the events.With this ongoing work on the ground in Ukraine, I tried to describe my
feelings and impressions during the unfolding events across the Ukraine and Crimea region. I felt the spiritual depth of the emotion involved in a situation I felt suspended between reality, fiction ,alienation, hatred and fear.