Public Story
Fragile As Glass: LGBTIQ* in Ukraine War
Summary
Portrait and interview series, exploring thoughts, wishes and ideas of various people identifying as queer in Lviv, Ukraine as the Russian invasion proceeds.
FRAGILE AS GLASS
At the beginning of March, Lviv is considered one of the safest cities in Ukraine. Residents are sitting in cafes, musicians play in the streets and the weekly market is open as usual. At first glance, the streets seem like a normal Eastern European city. Out of nowhere, the sirens of the air alarm tear the atmosphere apart.
These are the moments that break the apparent normality. Although the front is hundreds of kilometers to the east, the state of emergency is slowly creeping into the reality of peoples’ lives. The funeral of killed soldiers in an Orthodox church or volunteers sewing camouflage nets in the city‘s children‘s library are just two examples. Lviv has become a destination for internally displaced persons and a hub for people trying to leave Ukraine via Poland.
Many Ukrainians, in conversations, positively refer to a collective belonging to the still young state. But who is actually allowed to be part of Ukrainian society? How do marginalized people and those who are affected by discrimination experience the situation?
In Ukraine, the LGBTIQ* community has been as visible as never before in recent years - a success story that could come to an end, in the face of the Russian army‘s invasion since February 2022. Several young, queer people say, they are less discriminated due to their sexuality in everyday life right now. It is better to be able to fight for one‘s rights and freedoms in a sovereign Ukraine, than to wake up in Putin‘s Russia, they say.
All protagonists were given questions and asked to formulate their thoughts and wishes. The interviews were then translated, edited by Ambrosio and are usually displayed alongside the portraits.
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