Towell – The History War

Towell first visited Ukraine at the time of the Maidan uprising in 2014, witnessing the final days of the violent clashes between the protestors and police in Kyiv. His photographs show the civilians behind makeshift barricades with home-made weapons, the heavily shielded police and the aftermath of the dead in a half-destroyed Maidan Square. It was this event which led to Towell’s long-term commitment to Ukraine and compelled him to return over the years.

The second chapter focuses on Towell’s time in the wastelands of Chernobyl, site of history’s worst
nuclear disaster in 1986 which resulted in many Soviets losing faith in the system. The following chapters focus on Towell’s time on eastern Donbass—a region of neglected coal miners and de-occupied ruins, an embed with the Ukrainian Army in Bakhmut, time with separatists in Donetsk and Luhansk, and finally, the Russian invasion of Ukraine, including the exhumation of civilian
graves and crimes against humanity in Bucha.

Described by Towell as ‘one person’s book on Ukraine’ The History War challenges the possibilities of a photobook and demonstrates how storytelling can be woven together by different fabrics. Taking on the format of a scrapbook, Towell combines
personal notes with ephemera—postcards, found family pictures, playing cards, cigarette packets and rubbish left behind by Russian soldiers to supplement his images.

‘I believe this project is an important testament to a political crisis that will shape international relations and reverberate through the decades to come. It also challenges a world oversaturated with news pictures.’

20 x 28.5 cm