MILITARY COMMISSARIAT
MILITARY COMMISSARIAT
CREDITS
“Everyone knows what is happening in Ukraine right now, this is about it”, China-based Ukrainian Sergey Melnitchenko (1991), states about his own series Military Commissariat. It’s true that the situation has been so well covered by the news that it doesn’t need to be explained what the residents of the Ukraine are being subjected to currently: the country is being split physically and metaphorically. MeInitchenko conveys this turmoil in the series, using two sets of identical twins to represent the sides of the conflict. One side supports the rebels and one backs the government, but they aren’t that different in essence. Everyone who wants to fight and kill or are being murdered are the same, in MeInitchenko’s eyes, their similar poses also reflecting this. The worn tires and sandbags show the physical separation, all images framed by symbols from the army or Orthodox Church. The series highlights the futility of war and the exasperation of one photographer, who just doesn’t want to have to talk about it anymore.
