Christopher Briscoe on going to Ukraine: ‘The reason I keep coming back is the character of the Ukrainian people that I’ve seen’
By Debora Gordon for Ashland.news
Ashland photojournalist Christopher Briscoe’s last few books have focused on the human cost of Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and he will focus on one of those costs at an upcoming author talk at the Ashland Public Library.
His presentation on “The Women of Ukraine” is set for 3 to 4 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 14, in the library’s Gresham Room, 410 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland.
“Meet author and photojournalist Christopher Briscoe as he shares photographs and experiences from his time in Ukraine,” the event listing on the Jackson County Library Services website reads. “While journalism documents the initial chapters of history, it’s Christopher Briscoe’s lens and first-person accounts that bring those moments into sharp focus, immortalizing them in vivid detail.”
Prior to the invasion, Briscoe’s varied travels had not yet taken him to Ukraine. Originally from Santa Barbara, California, the Southern Oregon University graduate had sailed on the ocean and biked cross country, documenting his travels and experiences in previous books such as “Dancing With The Waves,” “Common Ground” and “Shifting Gears.”
But Brisoce, who has also freelanced for The Oregonian, Associated Press, and the now-defunct Ashland Daily Tidings and Medford Mail Tribune, had never been to the now-war-torn region.
“I had never been there. It was not on my radar,” Briscoe said. “I met a cataract surgeon living in Portugal, and 2½ weeks into the invasion, he called me up from the Polish/Ukraine border and said, ‘I’m here with some other docs in refugee camps. Do you want to come and document what we’re doing?’ And I said, ‘Absolutely.’”
“The reason I keep coming back is the character of the Ukrainian people that I’ve seen,” he adds. “From the beginning of the invasion, I’ve been all over Ukraine and the character of the people, their perseverance —they just keep going.”
Loyalty is another Ukrainian character trait he’s observed. He points to a group of widows who would meet in a cemetery, sometimes several times a week.
“On Facebook, there is a whole network of them, and whenever one of them stumbles, there are many just to pick them up and keep going,” he says.
Briscoe also notes the mettle of children who have lost their parents to the ongoing violence. In one notable encounter, Briscoe notes a story of one such child, a 7-year-old who lost her father who wanted to help another young child who had just lost theirs.
“(She) turned to her mom and said, ‘Mom, I want to go to the funeral. I want to help (her),” Briscoe said. “I know what she’s going through. I can help her.”
A 95-year-old woman Briscoe met said that she had survived Stalin, and that the ongoing war is more difficult. Near the woman’s Harkiv apartment, a kindergarten targeted by a missile had been destroyed.
Some schools have gone underground to continue on, with subways transporting students to class.
“That’s a perfect example of the character of the Ukrainians,” Briscoe says. “They can just keep going.”
Briscoe challenges himself to step into demanding situations and step outside his comfort zone.
“The comfort zone is highly overrated, and I have met people from around the world, that when the invasion broke out, they got out of their comfort zone, got up off the couch, joined together,” he says.
Briscoe tells a story of that unity on display.
“Every single morning throughout Ukraine at exactly 9 a.m., there’s a chime, like a hammer hitting an anvil,” Briscoe adds. “Everybody on the street, on the sidewalks, in the cars, stops. They may put their hands on their hearts and then take off their hats. If they’re a barista, they walk outside. If they’re on a bus, they stand up in the bus … the entire country pauses in gratitude. It is powerful. No one told them to do this. There’s no enforcer. It’s kind of a collective understanding.”
Debora Gordon is a writer, artist, educator and non-violence activist who recently moved to Ashland from Oakland, California. Email her at [email protected].
