A curled up hand with purple nails. A charred corpse strewn near a smashed car. But also a young couple in wedding clothes, gazes immersed in the white bouquet that they are holding together, the buildings gutted by the bombs relegated to an almost anecdotal element of the background. Here is how Ukraine, Fragments tells the story of the war in this Eastern European country, through the images of the six photographers from the Myop agency who have worked in the country since February 24, 2022: without the desire to be exhaustive, but to through different perspectives, images captured at very distinct times and places.
Although the work was designed to respect the chronology of the conflict, “objective coverage on the Russian side was made impossible by Moscow, access to the Ukrainian front became more and more restricted, and photographers from the agency were not on site all the time or throughout the country. So, they didn’t see or show everything about the war,” explains Guillaume Binet, co-founder of the Myop agency, who selected the photos and formatted the book with Michel Slomka and the help of graphic designers from ABM Studio. . “On the other hand, during a report carried out with the Wall Street Journal, I was the only one able to take photos of American HIMARS multiple rocket launchers, to see them in action on Ukrainian positions. Including an image of these weapons in the work was therefore important,” testifies, by way of example, Adrienne Surprenant, one of the members of the collective.
Myop chose to assume what could not be shown, by openly dealing with the theme of the “missing image”: there is none on the cover, which is entirely white. Inside, the aerial model lets you imagine the photos that were not taken. The war is narrated in a fragmented puzzle.
We often perceive life on the fringes of disaster. A young man smiles while playing the guitar, sunk in an armchair; A teenage girl, standing near the pool of an indoor swimming pool, is about to put her diving goggles around her swimming cap. There are peaceful faces, others laughing, men, women and children trying to continue living despite everything. “The early days of the conflict were hot news, and our photographs made it possible to capture the urgency, the astonishment that struck many people. But little by little, we documented the long-term establishment of a war situation which now affects all aspects of the lives of Ukrainians,” says Chloé Sharrock, another Myop photographer who has carried out several reports in Ukraine .
“We wanted to show that war doesn’t just astonish: that it insinuates itself into civilian life and fills every moment. That it is not just a matter of military or geopolitics. And then, we had to tell the story of the resilience of a people,” adds Guillaume Binet. “Even in situations of war, conflict, disaster, I try to find a way to tell the intimate story. The choice of my photos is made very much on this fine line between the story of horror, and that of something very delicate and human,” underlines Adrienne Surprenant. Her colleague Chloé Sharrock evokes the “modesty” with which she tries to transcribe “all the side effects that make up life in a country at war, the aspects other than the primary violence of the front line”.
The paper used to make this collection of “fragments” is light. “Not glossy, so as not to seem pretentious. We wanted to step aside as much as possible,” explains Guillaume Binet. The work, which delicately retraces a year of war reporting, has been particularly noted since its publication. Finalist for the prestigious Nadar prize, the project will be exhibited at the Gaîté Lyrique from February 9, 2024 for a period of three months.
All contributors to the work participated on a voluntary basis. All proceeds from the sale will be donated to the Ukrainian association NGO YES, which provides food, medical and clothing aid to vulnerable populations as well as those displaced by war in the east of the country. “Unfortunately public interest in the conflict is waning. It was predictable. Our work as committed photographers is only too partially exploited: we often have much more to tell than what appears in the very small selection published in the media. However, a book can carry for longer the voice of those we have accompanied for a time,” hopes Guillaume Binet.
» Ukraine, Fragments, photographs by Guillaume Binet, Laurence Geai, Zen Lefort, Chloé Sharrock, Michel Slomka, Adrienne Surprenant, Manuella editions, in co-publishing with ABM Studio, 304 pages, 35 euros.