British-Iranian artist Aria Shahrokhshahi has released a new body of work titled Wet Ground, a long-term photographic project documenting life in Ukraine during Russia's full-scale invasion. Developed through repeated stays living and volunteering in the country since 2019, the project takes an activist approach, rejecting spectacle in favour of proximity to the rhythms, contradictions and fragile continuities of daily life under prolonged violence.
A Different View of War
Shot in stark black and white, Wet Ground moves beyond the visual shorthand of war imagery, presenting scenes that are domestic, absurd, performative or oblique. A recurring focus on youth and subculture reflects the improvised paths life takes in the present moment. The title Wet Ground links Shahrokhshahi's survival of a rocket strike during a medical evacuation to the unstable terrain of a country in rapid transformation, where safety and danger exist in close proximity.
Key Photographs and Stories
- Welcome baby Theo, 2023: The day Theo was born, there was an unprecedented ballistic missile attack on Kyiv, hitting civilian infrastructure. Shahrokhshahi notes the stress of giving birth while rockets slam into the home city, focusing on a new beginning amid so many endings in war.
- Bus Station, 2022: The first photograph made after the start of the full-scale invasion, taken at a bus station in Lviv converted into a makeshift shelter for internally displaced people.
- Come Wander With Me, 2024: An old Ukrainian pagan tradition celebrating the summer solstice, highlighting the reclamation of Ukrainian culture after Soviet attempts to erase it.
- The First Kiss, 2024: Captured at an under-18s nightclub 30km from the frontline, showing the awkwardness and excitement of a first kiss amid daily drone and missile attacks.
- Alex, 2024: A former school teacher with a collection of over 100 succulents, representing the duality of how dramatically a person's identity can shift during war.
- Backstage at the Beauty Pageant, 2024: A children's beauty pageant in Odessa, leaving viewers to decide whether it is beautiful and resilient or bizarre during the largest land war in Europe since World War II.
About the Artist
Aria Shahrokhshahi, born in 1996, is a British-Iranian multi-disciplinary artist whose practice is shaped by a deep fascination with the intricate dynamics of diverse communities and the complexities of the human condition. With a focus on social structures and the human experience, her work serves as a critical exploration of the relationships and power dynamics that inform everyday life. Wet Ground is published by Loose Joints.
