For my last entry to the @kage202202 project, I attempted to express thoughts on the Ukraine invasion, which had just begun a few hours earlier. The images (apart from the last one in the BW series) are incidental—it’s the words and the improvised soundscape that are relevant to the topic.

But the post feels disconnected to me now, almost dismissive. Like everyone I’d been shocked by the news, but I hadn’t yet grasped the scope of the tragedy, a reality so much more terrifying than anything I’d expected. Putin is a power-wielding but isolated man with increasingly little to lose, which could lead to two, vastly different outcomes. 

In that context, this newsletter seems awfully small. We are witnesses to the courage of a nation, swarms of Davids facing Goliaths, with nothing but words at times. Old and young, standing tall and resolute, taking arms to protect their own. All wars are petty, needless and fuelled by greed, but this one is medieval. The only glimmer of hope lies in most of the world’s reaction so far, in the unanimous outcry Russia is being forced to accept. As if we have all, collectively, said no, enough, this is not who we are anymore. Take your sticks and stones and go back to the darkness of your cave. 

We refuse. We reject.

My heart goes out to Ukrainians everywhere, and to neighbours welcoming them with open arms.
Slava Ukraini.