I think this image is extraordinary. It has a quality that I love in photographs, and that is that there is something missing – and that is the person whose room this is. It's an unmade bed – Tracy Emin comes to mind – and there are objects there that take us to war, to patriotism, to worship: to all the things that seem quite Ukrainian, and a religious picture in the top right, the scarf or stole and the religious icon over there. A rather ordinary but rather large still life – something that suggests whoever owns the room is inspired by the beauty of nature, and flowers, and fruit, and a kind of still life. Which is a sort of joke in the photograph, because the photograph is still life – a modern version of a still life – objects not arranged in the way that they were in the great days of Dutch still life for example, but cleartly caught in a real room with cables hanging down.
There's a flag in the top left, a Ukrainain flag – a little symbol of patriotism, and of course, what catches the eye resting on the bed is a gun – an assault rifle of some kind. What do we think? A soldiers room? And has he or she left? Are they fighting now? Has the room been left in this condition? Probably not, because they'd need the gun. It's so suggestive of the whole condition of war, of what it does to a life: our own cosy bedrooms are very different from this. It's a marvellous picture to look at and look at, and just a question and just to wonder. So many of Mark's photographs are of people, and they're very moving, and you can see the history in their faces, and you can wonder about what's happened to them, and who they're missing, and all of those details – but this one your mind has to conjour up the person responsible – it's almost in that sense like a tomb of an unknown warrior if you like.
I think the works – all the works – are sensational. But this is the one that just happened to catch my eye.
Diary of a Volunteer is both an exhibition and a fundraising project.
Postcode Ukraine is a Kyiv-based charity founded in 2022 to support grassroots humanitarian organisations and volunteer groups working directly with communities affected by the war
*US supporters of Postcode Ukraine can make tax-deductible donations through our US partner, Shield of Freedom, a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit supporting Ukraine. Donations made through this campaign are received and acknowledged by Shield of Freedom and, through its grant programme, support Postcode Ukraine's humanitarian aid initiatives in Ukraine.
Since 2022, Postcode Ukraine has directly funded more than $500,000 of humanitarian aid projects across Ukraine
Through photography, film and humanitarian action, Postcode Ukraine works to ensure that the experiences of ordinary Ukrainians are seen, remembered and supported.
