The exhibition »Between Ashes and Light« brings together two series by Ukrainian photographer Lisa Bukreyeva — »Here They Build Houses from Ashes and Scars of a Lost Humanity«. Together, they reflect on how everyday life in Ukraine continues in places profoundly altered by war.

Born in 1993 and based in Kyiv, Bukreyeva photographs from lived experience. Her focus is often not on the moment of destruction itself, but on what comes after — the pauses, the silence, and the attempts to restore some sense of normal rhythm.

Exhibition opening: 10 March at 5 pm at ERSTE Foundation, Am Belvedere 1, 1100 Vienna

The exhibition presents scenes from de‑occupied and front‑line regions, showing how daily life persists within environments reshaped by conflict. Homes, streets, classrooms, churches, and playgrounds appear damaged yet inhabited, revealing the continuity of ordinary routines despite unstable and fractured surroundings. Across the images, signs of repair, protection, and adaptation — improvised structures, provisional fixes, small gestures of care — become visible markers of resilience.

The works depict places where civilian life unfolds in the midst of uncertainty: a »Welcome Home« rug lying in the ruins of a residential block; a child weaving camouflage nets between lessons; a mobile shelter positioned at a railway station; a flag raised in a battered yard; schoolrooms and churches marked by debris and shrapnel. Together, these scenes trace how communities hold on to presence, structure, and dignity even when the built environment has been profoundly disrupted.

Seen as a whole, the exhibition moves between moments of quiet survival and the physical traces of war inscribed on landscapes and interiors. The two series echo each other through recurring motifs — thresholds, windows, play areas, domestic spaces — creating a visual rhythm that mirrors the fragile continuity of everyday life. The calm, attentive style of the photographs allows these details to emerge without spectacle, shaping a narrative grounded in endurance rather than rupture.

The exhibition also connects to Bukreyeva’s involvement in the IWM (Institute for Human Sciences) »Documenting Ukraine« programme, which supports projects that record lived realities of the war. Her grant project »Houses of Ashes« focuses on daily civilian life in de‑occupied front‑line areas, and this perspective is reflected throughout the exhibition’s images, which document not only destruction but the steady re‑establishment of life within it.

About the artist

Ukrainian artist and documentary photographer Lisa Bukreyeva was born in 1993 and has lived and worked in Kyiv all her life. She began photographing in 2019, driven by a desire to observe and document the world around her and the people shaped by it. Before the full-scale Russian invasion, she focused on Ukrainian youth, exploring identity, belonging, and the environments that form young people.

After the invasion of 24 February 2022, her artistic focus shifted profoundly. Bukreyeva turned to the emotional and psychological realities of wartime life in Ukraine. Her work reflects on how war alters time, memory, and perception, and on the impossibility of fully comprehending the trauma of conflict—whether from within or from afar. She documents civilians’ lived experiences, devastated landscapes, and the quiet, often invisible wounds carried by communities forced into survival mode.

A central element of her practice is the question of what can—and cannot—be seen by the outside world. She considers how global audiences often encounter filtered or softened versions of the war, examining the mechanisms of visibility, censorship, and emotional distance. Her images form an unvarnished archive of Ukrainian reality—marked by grief, resilience, and human fragility—and confront viewers with the complexities of witnessing suffering.

Bukreyeva’s work sits at the intersection of documentary observation and deeply personal reflection. Through her photographs, she offers intimate testimony of wartime existence, revealing the persistence of humanity amid devastation and the silent spaces where trauma takes root.

ERSTE Foundation is committed to supporting the people of Ukraine who are suffering from the war. For the past four years, we have focused our efforts on supporting the people of Ukraine as well as those who have sought refuge here. We stand with Ukrainian cultural workers, enable representatives of Ukrainian civil society organisations to continue their education in Vienna, promote training for journalists, and contribute to strengthening local democratic structures. Our goal is to help improve living conditions in a country deeply affected by war.

The exhibition at the window gallery of ERSTE Foundation at Erste Campus runs from 10 March to 10 April 2026 and is on display 24 hours, 7 days a week.

Header image: High rise building destroyed by Russian shelling, Kharkiv, 2024. Collection: »Here They Build Houses from Ashes«, Photo by Lisa Bukreyeva