A place to stay

„A place to stay“ was photographed in the Ukrainian-held parts of the Donbas, primarily in the twin cities of Sloviansk and Kramatorsk – a region located roughly fifteen kilometers from Russian positions. This is territory Russia seeks to seize and control.

Explosions are constantly audible – sometimes distant, sometimes closer – and their repetition erodes urgency without reducing danger. Sirens sound, but they no longer organize behavior. People remain present in the city, filling time rather than pursuing purpose, moving through spaces that feel increasingly emptied of function. When silence appears, it offers no comfort; it is only the moment before the next strike.
The war is not experienced here as escalation, but as a permanent condition. It has settled into everyday life: in damaged facades, boarded-up windows, abandoned buildings, and provisional repairs. Much of the architecture still stands and remains in use, yet it no longer leads anywhere.

These landscapes are neither battlefields nor classical ruins. They are inhabited zones under pressure – streets, entrances, shops, interiors – shaped by exhaustion, surveillance, and long-term uncertainty. The boundary between civilian life and the front line has thinned to the point of irrelevance.

The photographs are made from within this condition. They do not search for dramatic moments or visible action. Instead, they register a slow collapse of orientation: how danger becomes habitual, how silence never signals safety, and how staying replaces the possibility of departure.