Ukrainian war photographer shows work in Lincoln

LINCOLN, Neb. (KOLN) - Tonya Synya found herself at the same crossroads many Ukrainians her age did at the start of the invasion.

In February’s cold snow--turning to mud beneath the treads of Russian tanks--the 25-year-old wrestled with what she could do. Synya didn’t want to leave, but she also couldn’t pick up arms to fight.

So she turned to her passion: photography

“I have a camera. It’s my weapon,” Synya said. “So I decided that I want to do true photos of our history and I want to find some help with my weapon. And my weapon is my camera.”

Synya is in Lincoln visiting family, and she brought a trove of her work with her: weeks worth of photographs and stories from her time on the front lines of Russia’s invasion.

Synya worked behind the camera before the war: shooting special events. But she traded white wedding dresses for camouflage vests and helmets when she traveled to the Donbas, the region where fighting first broke out between Ukraine and Russia in 2014.

Synya followed a volunteer organization during evacuations. All the while, their work was punctuated by mortars and bombs.

“They’re bombing here all the time,” Synya said. “Like every minute. We also have noise in our ears because it’s always boom, boom. You have a headache.”

Synya shared the stories behind some of her photographs at the Capital Cigar Lounge this week. She said she hoped to shed light on the reality of the war--so far from the Midwest’s comfy couches and television screens

“All of a sudden, you see the story of the Ukrainian people, instead of being the headline, it becomes the third or the fourth or the fifth story,” Anthony Goins, the CEO of Capital Cigar Lounge, said. “We want to make sure that the plight of our Ukrainian brothers and sisters remains at the forefront of people’s minds, and whatever we can do to support that community, we want to make sure that we do it.

Synya especially wanted to focus on the civilians who had no choices to make, those whose lives were uprooted and who may never be able to return home. She’ll be in Lincoln for the next couple of months, and she said she hopes to continue exhibiting her work.