Ukraine

J.Daniel Hud

2015 -Present — Ukraine

About this series

In 2015 I went to Ukraine for the first time to photograph their volunteer battalions who were then fighting in the war. Their extra-governmental structure and role then seemed anomalous to me but as I spent time with them and with people in Ukraine in general it became clear to me that they represented Ukraine’s will for autonomy at all costs. Since Maidan and then to a much greater extent after the full Russian invasion, the Ukrainian population has mobilized for war. Even the smallest aspects of Ukrainian life have been rethought towards defeating their invaders. Millions of Russian-speaking Ukrainians have voluntarily switched to Ukrainian. Nearly anybody with a skill has found a way to turn it into a fundraiser for the war effort. After two years of Russia’s constant barrage of cruise missiles on civilian infrastructure, Ukraine has taken the approaches of the volunteer battalions to the whole of their nation.

Photographer: J.Daniel Hud
Nationality: American
Based in: Chicago, USA
Website: jdanielhud.com
Instagram: @jdanielhud

J. Daniel Hud is a documentary photographer from Tucson, Arizona who is currently living in Chicago. He has traveled to Ukraine since 2015. He received an MFA from Columbia College Chicago in 2021. In 2022 he published Militiagan, a book of photographs from a year spent following the Michigan Militia in 2020. In 2023 he had his solo exhibition “Arrival” showing photographs made in Ukraine in the summer of 2023.