The Land is Yellow, the Sky is Blue

'The Land is Yellow, the Sky is Blue', is based around Balakliya, a small village in central Ukraine - the homeland of my wife and family. This dual-language book in English and Ukrainian combines the photographs that I made in this place from 2019-2021 with text written in the shadow of the current war. They are stories filled with dreamy childhood memories and an anxiety shaped by the backdrop of war."The blue and yellow of Ukrainian flag symbolise the clear blue sky above the fields of wheat that cover our land. In the Ukrainian language, the concept of 'zemlya' or ‘land’ has several meanings. It is the territory and the soil cultivated by the hard work of the people. It is the Motherland." Anna Nekrasova-Wilson, June 2023.
My friend Yanyk, with whom as a child I used to race to jump from the cliff into the river, was in the most perilous spots in eastern Ukraine during the full-scale invasion. He suffered from shellshock.” “I will go back to the front line as soon as I recover,” he told me from his hospital bed. “I will fight until we win, until this war is over.” Meanwhile, his wife and two young daughters, sister, niece, and mother are all waiting for him at home.