Oksana Yushko’s portraits of Russian-Ukrainian couples shed light on the union of humankind, rather than on its division
Oksana Yushko grew up in Kharkiv, Ukraine, then moved to Moscow to study there and make it her home for twenty-five years. In 2014, she began working on her Familia series, aiming to answer this tragic question: How can you still love one another when your countries have become enemies? With a Ukrainian father and a Russian mother, the artist keeps this project very dear to her heart.
Sparked by the annexation of Crimea, the series became even more significant when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. When interviewed by Kometa magazine, the photographer explained that, in her parents’ day, people never even spoke of “mixed couples” as there were millions of stories of love and families entwined in the territories of the Soviet Union. Through her images, the artist does not simply intend to depict the crisis between nations, but also within families, from a more personal and humane point of view, to help people all over the world understand the tragedy and the reasons behind it.