Triggered: Mathilde Vaveau
Hôpital Bombardé ©Mathilde Vaveau
This picture has been taken in an east Ukrainian hospital in 2016, two years after the beginning of the war that continues to pit Ukraine and Russia against one another - and to a certain extent the West and the East. In this almost completely destroyed hospital, I found myself shocked when I saw unexploded bombs stuck in the ceilings and I was scared to blow up on a mine when I pressed my trigger without looking where I was stepping. The place was recently bombed out and left as it is since it was an important spot of battle. However, it looked as though it belonged to another time, as though it had already passed away. The walls were pitch black due to the bombing but in several rooms, a colourful wallpaper was still holding on: blue, green, pink. On the right side of the photograph, the shadow of the explosion looks like the shadow of the sun from the outside; the whole space was burnt except for this little corner full of colours: dresses, jeans, shoes, pyjamas, bricks, bits of metal and a gas mask. I found myself even more shocked when I realised after a few hours that a couple of nurses were still working there. This picture is important to me because it reminds me that I saw what havoc is.
Check out more of Vavaeu’s work on her website
