A 3-week trip from Sacramento to Ukraine became a year. How to see what she brought back
The smell of smoke still wafts from the war-torn Ukrainian flags hanging above Alina Tyulyu, a Ukrainian photographer who lives in Sacramento, as she describes one of the first photographs she made after arriving at the border her native country shares with Poland.
“This is one of the first photographs that I took,” said Tyulyu, 30, holding up a stark black-and-white exhibition print of a refugee child about the same age as she was when she immigrated to the United States in 1999.
The picture changed her life.
“That’s when I realized I couldn’t leave — I was completely and so deeply moved by the amount of children, families, mothers, wives, just children fleeing,” she said.
Tyulyu started posting her photographs from the war and sharing the emotional stories behind them on social media, and her followers and her friends sent donations to support her work.
“What was supposed to be a three week trip – it ended up being almost a whole year,” she said.
Her photographs and artifacts she collected from the front lines will will be on display in a two-day pop-up show at the Clara Auditorium in Sacramento on Saturday, June 10, and Sunday, June 11. Tickets are $15.
Bullets and detonated mines will be exhibited, along with a gas mask found in one of their bunkers.
“These are things that Russia bought onto the Ukraine territory,” she said, pointing to items that include helmets, clothing and food packaging. “All of these items you will be able to touch, and see in the images as well.”
Her finds included magazines and newspapers left behind by Russians. “It’s been interesting to read them … just to see how drastic and insane the propaganda is.”
Tyulyu said she used the money she collected so far to pay for medicine and supplies for victims of the war, and she plans to use the proceeds from the exhibit to provide more help for Ukrainians.
Ukrainian soldiers who have received prosthetics for their war injuries will also attend the event for a Q&A, according to Tyulyu.
“It’s going to be a really powerful few days of seeing, feeling, smelling and actually hearing real experiences.”
This story was originally published June 9, 2023 at 5:00 AM.