Most postcards carry a simple sentiment: Wish you were here.
But the cards Anastasia Taylor-Lind and Alisa Sopova are mailing randomly to people around the globe convey a haunting message: Wish this stranger was still alive.
The pair hopes their postcards — each scribbled with the name of a victim of armed conflict in Ukraine — will put a human face on war.
Photo: Gisele Cassol via AP
“I wanted people to have a more personal experience with conflict,” said Taylor-Lind, a photojournalist who was on assignment for National Geographic when inspiration struck in a post office in the middle of the war zone.
Fighting between Ukrainian government troops and Russia-backed separatists has killed more than 9,600 people in eastern Ukraine since it began in 2014. Ukraine filed a case against Russia this month at the UN’s highest court, accusing Moscow of illegally annexing Crimea and illicitly bankrolling rebel groups.
Although the shelling has diminished, Taylor-Lind feels compelled to keep alive the memories of those on all sides who have perished.
At a post office in the embattled city of Slavyansk, she came across postcards with idyllic scenes: a cityscape framed by a river and blossoming trees; lovers embracing at twilight along a moonlit promenade. Printed on them was a cheerful greeting in English: “Welcome to Donetsk,” the capital of the Donbass region and ground zero for the conflict.
In the summer of 2015, Taylor-Lind ordered 1,000 cards and began addressing them to people around the world she had never met. Some were chosen at random; others had responded to her vague offer via social media of a postcard — not knowing what they would get.
That launched a continuing project that gained momentum last year while she was at Harvard University on a fellowship. Each carried a cryptic message with the name of a casualty of war and the date that he or she died.
“The war in Ukraine isn’t something that happened and then just went away. The lives and livelihoods of millions were affected,” she said. “This was very much an experiment. I didn’t know how people would react.”
React they have, with anger, shock, confusion and sadness.
A few recipients initially puzzled over the cards, which are postmarked in Ukraine, worrying whether someone in their household had lost a friend. Eventually, and by the hundreds, they have shared their thoughts using the hashtags #WelcomeToDonetsk and #WarIsPersonal.
Some have carried their cards to a leafy park, a remote beach or a tranquil mountainside, and held a moment of solitary remembrance for a fellow human they never met. Others have posed their cards next to lighted candles and posted photos and videos in somber tribute .
Jochem Lindelauf, of Groningen, Netherlands, was left reeling when he got a card that read: “Artem Gorlenko was killed in Spartak on Tuesday the 13th of October 2015.”
Oct. 13 is Lindelauf’s birthday.
“The crazy coincidence of my birthday brought it even more home for me,” he said in an Instagram post.
Taylor-Lind, an English-Swedish national now at the Carey Institute for Global Good in Rensselaerville, New York, and Sopova, a journalist from Donetsk doing her Nieman Fellowship at Harvard this year, have mailed more than 2,000 postcards to people in 60-plus countries.
Trying to identify those killed has been a challenge. Neither the Ukrainian government nor the UN maintains a comprehensive list, forcing Sopova to spend many hours scouring news reports and gruesome photographs posted online, as well as corresponding with officials and others back in Ukraine.
“It means nobody cares,” Sopova said. “And that makes this project even more important.”
‘EYE FOR AN EYE’: Two of the men were shot by a male relative of the victims, whose families turned down the opportunity to offer them amnesty, the Supreme Court said Four men were yesterday publicly executed in Afghanistan, the Supreme Court said, the highest number of executions to be carried out in one day since the Taliban’s return to power. The executions in three separate provinces brought to 10 the number of men publicly put to death since 2021, according to an Agence France-Presse tally. Public executions were common during the Taliban’s first rule from 1996 to 2001, with most of them carried out publicly in sports stadiums. Two men were shot around six or seven times by a male relative of the victims in front of spectators in Qala-i-Naw, the center
Incumbent Ecuadoran President Daniel Noboa on Sunday claimed a runaway victory in the nation’s presidential election, after voters endorsed the young leader’s “iron fist” approach to rampant cartel violence. With more than 90 percent of the votes counted, the National Election Council said Noboa had an unassailable 12-point lead over his leftist rival Luisa Gonzalez. Official results showed Noboa with 56 percent of the vote, against Gonzalez’s 44 percent — a far bigger winning margin than expected after a virtual tie in the first round. Speaking to jubilant supporters in his hometown of Olon, the 37-year-old president claimed a “historic victory.” “A huge hug
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney is leaning into his banking background as his country fights a trade war with the US, but his financial ties have also made him a target for conspiracy theories. Incorporating tropes familiar to followers of the far-right QAnon movement, conspiratorial social media posts about the Liberal leader have surged ahead of the country’s April 28 election. Posts range from false claims he recited a “satanic chant” at a campaign event to artificial intelligence (AI)-generated images of him in a pool with convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. “He’s the ideal person to be targeted here, for sure, due to
DISPUTE: Beijing seeks global support against Trump’s tariffs, but many governments remain hesitant to align, including India, ASEAN countries and Australia China is reaching out to other nations as the US layers on more tariffs, in what appears to be an attempt by Beijing to form a united front to compel Washington to retreat. Days into the effort, it is meeting only partial success from countries unwilling to ally with the main target of US President Donald Trump’s trade war. Facing the cratering of global markets, Trump on Wednesday backed off his tariffs on most nations for 90 days, saying countries were lining up to negotiate more favorable conditions. China has refused to seek talks, saying the US was insincere and that it
RSS