War exposes the fragility of those least able to protect themselves.
Hardship has touched everyone in Ukraine, yet older generations bear a particularly heavy weight — people whose entire lives have already been shaped by historical upheaval.
This is a generation that survived Stalinist terror, industrialization, the Second World War, postwar hunger and reconstruction, the collapse of the Soviet Union and the turmoil of economic reforms. They learned to endure almost anything. But even their resilience has limits.
Today, the war delivers a double blow: they lose their homes — and at the same time, they lose memory, orientation, and the basic sense of safety.
The photographs tell the story of Antonina. She had been diagnosed with dementia before the war began. When the frontline moved to within ten kilometers of her village, her children evacuated her — from the place where she had lived her entire life.
Antonina had once been an accountant: precise, rational, steady.
She kept a garden, cared for animals, stayed active — no one imagined how quickly her mind would dim.
A year of living in a frontline zone, at her age, caused a profound breakdown in her mental health. Some therapists believe that beyond age-related decline, this sudden detachment from reality may be a psychological response to the unbearable conditions of war.
Her family brought her into their home, and life for everyone shifted into full-time care.
The center of the kitchen — where the dining table once stood — is now occupied by a portable toilet.
People with dementia often return in their memories to their homes and workplaces. But those places no longer exist. Only craters remain.
It is a strange, painful realization that these buildings now survive most clearly in the trembling consciousness of the elderly — preserved there more vividly than in the real world.
War, the collapse of the healthcare system, and the absence of social support programs have left thousands of Ukrainian families alone with this burden.
Inna Piskun
I'm 50 years old. I graduated from university with a degree in economic cybernetics. For a while, I worked in landscape design for naturalistic gardens. I started photographing them. Then portraiture and reportage came into my life.
Now I run a family school.
My daughter and I work with children who remain here in Dnipro. And who are experiencing educational losses. Due to online learning. Due to blackouts. Due to constant stress. I believe it's important to support the vulnerable and weak.
@in.piskun
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