22 x 28 cm, 64 pages, 26 images, softcover with dust jacket (three different motifs) ISBN 978-3-911192-04-0
Photobook in German and English, 2025, based on the long-term collaborative photoproject with teenagers ⧉ (press release below)
The Alphabet of War – Young Ukrainian People Tell Their Stories Through Images and Words
The alphabet represents order, structure, and reliability. However, war destroys this world. It intruders into the lives of young people, shattering familiar routines and forcing them to flee. For refugee Ukrainian teenagers, this means that nothing remains as it was before – not even the language.
Under the guidance of artist Masha Pryven, a group of young people who fled to Berlin from Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine reinterpreted the German alphabet. In an innovative project, 26 terms are staged in photographs and filled with personal thoughts. They consciously forgo a fixed order, creating a reflection of the chaos that the war leaves behind. Each image, each written thought, is a testament to the brave attempt to find a new approach to one’s own identity amidst the chaos and to engage with the changed living situation. The Alphabet of War is not only a creative testimony to personal experiences in exile but also an invitation to explore the transformative power of language and images.
For purchase in Germany ⧉, in Austria ⧉. Or send an email to Masha Pryven ⧉.
8 teenagers — 2 years
26 photos — 26 letters of the German alphabet
3 years of the Russian invasion into Ukraine
26 attempts of Ukrainian teenagers to explain this war to adults
1 book — 3 covers
1 foreword as a dialogue between Yehor (co-leader of the project, 17 years old) and Masha Pryven
10 questions posed by teenagers to adults — 10 answers
1 conversation between Wendy Ewald and Masha Pryven — Who owns an alphabet?
