n 2014, Émeric Lhuisset portrayed 100 residents of Kyiv in the square as a tribute to the more than 100 people who died in the fighting with Yanukovych’s troops on Maydan. They all answered two questions:
– What do you hope will happen next?
– What do you think will happen?
Eight years later, their answers are still just as moving and confrontational.
In March 2022, Émeric Lhuisset returned to Ukraine. His aim was to make another hundred portraits, this time of resistance fighters throughout Ukraine. Lhuisset: ‘Some have taken up arms, others manufacture camouflage nets or Molotov cocktails, others help with logistics or care for the wounded. They are the Ukrainian civil resistance. They are people who have left their ordinary lives to fight.
Their faces are hidden for now. They must be protected because many of them will may have to continue the fight clandestinely. One day their faces will be visible to all. Their portraits will be displayed on the day Ukraine regains its full sovereignty. The day the resistance won.”
As in Maydan – Hundred Portraits, text and image are equally important. The questions the sitters answered remained the same as in 2014:
– What would you like to see happening now?
– What do you think will happen?