Yuriy Veselskiy, a 21-year-old soldier of the Ukrainian Army’s 95th Air Mobile Brigade, lost his right leg in 2014 when a grenade hit the armored vehicle that he was driving in the Donbas, the eastern region of Ukraine torn by Russia’s war.
Two years ago, shortly after the amputation, he appeared on TV, sitting forlornly in a wheelchair as his mother asked for help to collect money for a prosthetic leg.
But this February he is presenting a radically different image to the public.
Veselskiy appears in a dramatic, balletic pose, arms aloft, and balanced on his modern prosthetic leg, on the cover of a special edition of the Ukrainian glossy magazine Viva, entitled “Viva: The Winners (Viva: Peremozhtsi).”
Eighteen amputees, among them 17 war veterans and one volunteer, all of whom lost limbs after being injured in the Donbas, told their life stories and posed for photos, which were published in the magazine.
What began as a photo shoot turned into a social initiative, with a cycle of TV spots being made by a partner of “The Winners” project – the 1+1 TV channel – and a photo exhibition in Taras Shevchenko Museum in Kyiv. The famous Ukrainian photographer Alexandr Morderer shot the photos.
The main goal of the project was to show the Ukrainian politicians and society that people with disabilities are fully functional members of society, one of “The Winners” creators, Ivanna Slaboshpitskaya, the chief editor of Viva, told Kyiv Post.
“All our heroes enthusiastically agreed to take part in the shoot. When people meet them on the streets of their hometowns, there are three types of reaction: They offer money, cry, or pity them. This is wrong,” Slaboshpitskaya said.
However, Veselskiy said the organizers had taken a long time to persuade him to take part in the photo shoot. In spring 2015, he finally agreed.
“I had two attempts. At first, I felt a little uncomfortable, but when they showed me the results, I understood it would be awesome. So during the second session I was confident,” said Veselskiy.
Slaboshpitskaya said that the idea of the photo shoot came to her last April when she saw similar shots of U.S. veterans by U.S. photographer Michael Stokes. Her friend, Ukrainian TV host Solomia Vitvitska, was looking to launch a social initiative focused on amputee veterans. So they joined forces.
Slaboshpitskaya and Vitvitska wanted Morderer, who is famous for his portraits of Ukrainian celebrities and politicians, to do the shooting. They had no money, but Morderer agreed to participate for free.
“It was the first time I worked with people with special needs. So we had doubts about what we could ask them to do during the shooting. But the guys were open to any physical exertion to get a good photo,” Morderer told the Kyiv Post.
The shooting took place in September 2015.
All the profits of the sales of “Viva: The Winners” will be donated to the development of modern prosthesis technologies in Ukraine.
The magazine can be bought online at www.murahy.com and www.yakaboo.ua for Hr 50 per copy.
“Viva: The Winners” photo exhibition can be seen in Taras Shevchenko museum (12 Taras Shevchenko Blvd.) in Kyiv until Feb. 21. Entrance is Hr 20.
On Feb. 29, Morderer will present his photographs in Brussels. n
