Stopped Life

• Photographer
  Halyna Vitiuk
• Photo Date
  December 2023

During the first year of the war in Ukraine, life stood still in anticipation. In our rented apartment, we lived out of suitcases, holding onto only the essentials. Cooking daily in one pot, we restricted ourselves to the bare necessities. Awareness of the war came slowly. Initially hopeful for a quick return to normalcy, we realized it meant a completely new life. These flowers, symbols of our peaceful past, froze like our lives at their peak. They signify a suspended time. Only through rebirth can we blossom again, rise, and flourish.

Halyna was born in 1983 Odesa, Ukraine. She grew up in a village, in a family of agronomists. The love for flowers began from childhood, she with mother grew unique flowers in home garden. Halyna came to photography just at the age of 35 from the marketing sphere. Today she is the prize-winner of international photo competitions, her works has been exhibited in Ukraine and Scotland. In her youth, she heard one Jewish wisdom: "Focus on good thoughts and all will be good." This is her main motivation in life.