(RE)SETTLED Ukrainian stories in Wigan
(Re)Settled: Ukrainian stories in Wigan is a socially engaged photographic project by Harley Bainbridge which explores the experiences of three displaced Ukrainian families living in Wigan, Greater Manchester. Initiated by United for Ukraine (a Manchester based employability organisation), the families were invited to collaborate with Harley to share their stories through conversations and photography sessions over several months in 2024.
Since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces on the 24th February 2022, it is estimated that six million Ukrainian people have been displaced across Europe, with approximately 247,000 refugees coming to the UK.1 Many refugees in the UK arrived under the ‘Homes for Ukraine’ scheme, where they live with ‘sponsor’ families.
(Re)Settled tells the stories of just three families seeking refuge in the UK, offering a glimpse of the challenges that come with relocation and fleeing your home country. By showing the diversity of these three families, the hope is to expand our understanding of what it means to be a ‘refugee’ and to look beyond the statistics and stereotypes presented in headlines.
In this publication, we meet Vitalii, Liliia, Solomia and Sofia; Iryna, Anna and Wadim; and Yana, Sofia and Orysia. Harley’s photographs and the stories of the families reflect experiences which are perhaps less seen or heard by ‘outsiders’ to the conflict: from the heartbreak of leaving family and familiarity behind, to struggling with language and cultural barriers, and facing changes to long-term medical care; to the more mundane, but frustrating, administrative hurdles. Through these intimate stories, the project challenges us to reflect on our shared responsibility in supporting those whose lives have been uprooted by conflict.
This publication has been produced by Open Eye Gallery to accompany the touring exhibition, ‘Home: Ukrainian Photography, UK Words’.
Figures taken from a Research Briefing for the House of Commons published in September, 2024.
Vitalii and Liliia moved to the UK in 2014 following the Russian invasion of Donbas and Crimea. Fearing the worst and expecting the initial invasion to escalate quickly, they left their home near the border and sought asylum. However, due to the political climate at the time, they were refused asylum and have been litigating their right to reside and work in the UK for nearly a decade.
Vitalii Liliia Solomia Sofia
Initially living in an asylum centre, they are now in Home Office housing in Wigan with their two children, Solomiia and Sofia. Their residency status restricts their ability to work or travel, leaving them to spend their days and weekends volunteering at their local church.
When I first met Vitalii, he was alone, kneedeep in medical supplies, clothing, and cans of food in a dimly lit corner of St. James’ Church. He was preparing donations for transportation to Ukraine, determined to contribute to the safety and security of his home country. Alongside him, Liliia organises and resells donated clothing online to raise funds for transportation costs and specially requested supplies.
Their daughters were both born in the UK and are bilingual. They enjoy watching Ukrainian cartoons on YouTube, and attend their local school.
In the months that followed our time together, Vitalii and his family received the news that they would be granted a temporary right to reside. This monumental change allows Vitalii and Liliia to find work and begin rebuilding their lives in the UK. However, they now face the challenge of starting afresh as their Home Office housing comes to an end. Years of enforced unemployment leave them with no recent work experience or savings, making their transition into independence both an opportunity and a struggle.
Iryna Anna Wadim
Iryna and Anna settled in Wigan after travelling through Europe from Khmelnytskyi. They spent their first 8 months in the UK living with their sponsor, where they learned to grasp the language and understand UK systems.
In Ukraine, Iryna earned her degree in economics, taught in a school and organised dance classes in the evenings. Despite her qualifications and experience, nothing directly translated to living in the UK – for example, it was difficult to get her driving licence recognised. She expressed wishes that there could be special circumstances considered and put in order to help settlers, considering the difficulty they have getting information and paperwork from Ukraine.
Many Ukrainians face a challenge of having their qualifications recognised in the UK. Some in Western-European countries see bureaucracy in ‘post-Soviet’ countries as corrupt, which may be contributing to rejections of professional licensing and qualifications unless applicants complete an arduous recertification process.
During our time together, Iryna often described her dream and desire to get back working again. In the final weeks we spent together, Iryna was preparing a presentation and practising English ahead of her first job interview. It was clear how committed she was to making that happen. After previously working as a cleaner in Wigan, Iryna successfully delivered an English language workshop for her interview and secured a teaching assistant role at a local school.
Anna and her Doctor (wearing a Ukrainian shirt that Iryna gifted him).
Anna, now age 5, is recovering from treatment for WHIM syndrome (a very rare condition: ‘Warts, Hypogammaglobulinemia, Immunodeficiency, Myelokathexis’), and spent her first 18 months in the UK isolated due to risk of infection. Undergoing treatment meant that Anna was often tired, uncharacteristically so for her and for her age. However, in more recent months, Anna has been spending more and more time at school, improving her gymnastics skills, enjoying horse riding, and learning English with her online tutor. Her energy seems boundless. Iryna puts the success of her recovery down to the receptive and holistic approaches to treatment that her British doctors have adopted.
A delivery driver collecting packages to drive to Ukraine.
Iryna’s son, Wadim (age 22), remains in Ukraine. He works as a traffic officer in the Police force and has recently been promoted. He is studying towards his Masters degree in Law, with the hope of becoming a Magistrate in the future. Wadim often speaks with Anna and his Mum on FaceTime calls and whilst he does miss them, he’s relieved that they don’t have to live in an area which is prone to drone and artillery strikes. In a somewhat macabre manner, Wadim downplays the strikes, which have now become part of his everyday life. He joked with his Mum about how the sounds she could hear were obviously far away.
Wadim receiving his parcel, photo by his friend.
Wadim (Portait made by Wadim’s friend still in Ukraine).
Anna and their Wigan sponsor family.
Sisters Yana and Sofia arrived in the UK with their mother, Orysia, two years ago. Initially settling with a sponsor family in Ambleside, they later relocated to Wigan last year.
Yana Sofia Orysia
Yana skiing at Bukovel, a popular ski resort in Ukraine.
Yana, who is fluent in English, quickly took on most of the family responsibilities as her sister Sofia and mum Orysia, have found learning English challenging. She worked in a tourist café in Ambleside, (the home of their sponsor family) a care home and most recently, in a postal sorting warehouse.
Yana often spoke about wanting to return to education in order to get her degree, potentially to work in social media marketing reflecting her interest and success with her own accounts.
When I worked in a care home they didn’t believe I was Ukrainian because I was well presented.
Back in Ukraine, Orysia ran a successful wedding planning business for 26 years and is a qualified hairdresser. Struggling with English, she initially took a cleaning job in Wigan but is now working to relaunch her hairdressing business to serve the Ukrainian community. With many Ukrainians living in the Greater Manchester area, there are a lot of potential clients looking for familiar, home comforts.
Sofia, who was 13 at the time of the full-scale invasion in 2022, has recently graduated from high school after passing her exams and overcoming the disruption to her studies. She is preparing to start college, and dreams of moving to London for work.
The first time we met, Yana invited me to join her family at the Ukrainian church in Salford to celebrate Easter Sunday.
Sofia, Orysia, Yana & her Grandma Anna at Church of the Mother of God of Perpetual Help, Ivano-Frankivsk. She is the only member of their family that remains in Ukraine.
Adjusting to a new language and culture, alongside frequent relocations, has been challenging. Both Sofia and Orysia struggled with the quiet environment of living in small northern towns, finding a purpose, and building friendships. Yana, now 26, has recently secured a place at Salford University to study Law. She continues to lead on nearly all family responsibilities, including organising yet another home move. At our most recent meeting – in the cafe at university between the classes of her full time course – she reflected on her role as ‘head of the family’ as she jumped between phone calls and emails, organising council tax, meter readings, and amending visa details.
Yana’s Easter gifts to me.
Something I could do:
Harley Bainbridge on challenging stereotypical representations of refugees.
At the time of writing (November 2024), it’s nearly three years since Russia recommenced its invasion into the Eastern borders of Ukraine in February 2022. There have been several conflicts in my lifetime which have involved Eastern European countries and states, yet for some reason this one felt much more ‘real’ and local. Perhaps because of the advent of social media and instant reporting, which brought those initial weeks right to the forefront. Looking back, I realise how little I knew about Ukraine – to me it was a place which had little bearing on my day to day life. But it quickly became apparent that what was unfolding was going to have an immediate and long lasting impact on all of us.
I found myself somewhat overwhelmed, and felt I should be doing something – but what? As an outsider to the conflict I had nothing to add, nothing to give and no platform, or real knowledge, to raise awareness. So I hand-wrung over the daily updates and predictions, fearing the worst for Europe and the potential for escalation beyond the borders of Ukraine.
I followed the headlines throughout 2022 and 2023 – both official, and through citizen journalism on social media – and began recognising a shift in sentiment. The news cycle had turned and new opportunities for engaging the eyes of the public were filling our newspapers and nightly news programs. The cost of living crises across Europe and the US, the conflicts rising in Syria, Palestine, the shift to right wing politics across European elections, the list goes on. To many, the invasion of Ukraine had become old news, and in some cases a pariah, the ‘cause’ of energy and food price rises.
It was towards the end of 2023 when I met Marianna Vaszilyiv, whilst on a photography commission for The Growth Company. The Growth Company is the parent company of United for Ukraine, an organisation that supports Ukrainian evacuees looking for employment in the North of England. Hearing the stories of people who had been helped by United for Ukraine, and after a long rant together about the lack of media coverage of the ongoing conflict, I felt I finally had the opportunity to ‘do something’ with Marianna’s help.
There is a critical concept known as the ‘Ideal Victim’ which is the problematic representation, in visual media, of people who live in or have escaped conflict zones. Typically, media outlets and fundraisers
will rely on images and descriptions of stereotypical views, in this case of Ukrainians, believing that images of poverty, illness, homelessness, vulnerable older people and children, will garner a much more positive response to an appeal than, say, images of metropolitan, educated and healthy people.
In the case of Ukraine, this plays nicely into the reductive narrative of a post-Soviet, post-Cold War ‘state’ which has been left generations behind the development of its neighbouring European countries. Yet, as shown by the stories of evacuees coming to the UK with high level degrees, leaving successful jobs and businesses, and often moving from cities which are equal to any found in Western Europe, the trope of the ‘ideal victim’ is far from the reality of life in Ukraine.
The something I could do became finding a way to challenge that stereotypical representation, to humanise and localise the now distant conflict, to reflect the diversity of Ukrainian experience and identity; and ultimately, to find a way to bring those experiences in front of a wider audience, in an attempt to reinvigorate interest in the ongoing conflict and to encourage reflection on the perceptions of who Ukraine and Ukrainians are. This series of images is the output of that project.
Three families from across Wigan, introduced to me by Marianna, agreed to spend their time with me over six months to discuss their experiences. To be photographed in their homes and to share photos from their travels across Europe to the UK, and finally to be part of selecting and organising their images for a final presentation.
What I found during our time together is that, despite spending several months researching Ukrainian history and culture prior to meeting with families, every person I met has an experience and identity that could never be considered representative of the ‘overall Ukrainian experience’. It should never come as a surprise that there is such a diversity amongst even a small group of three families, but that reflects the power of the stereotype.
There is always a gap between what we think we know, and what the actuality of an individual experience is. There is a lifetime inside that gap that would take years to discover and communicate. Whilst this project reflects the time we spent together, a few meetings over six months barely even scratches the surface of what it means to be a Ukrainian during conflict and displacement. However, I do hope that it gives an insight into who can be affected by conflict and how that impact affects what we take for granted such as, our identity, our families, our security and safety, and where we call home.
Today, I still think about the effects of this ongoing conflict, and the risks in the current global political climate which threaten Ukraine. I think about every single person who is just trying to live their life, those who are defending their country, and those who have lost someone. It’s easy to think of the Ukrainian frontlines as a distant conflict which has no impact on our everyday lives but, as we have seen, in our globalised world that is simply not true. The old adage that Ukraine is the ‘breadbasket’ of Europe is true, but it is also the gateway to Europe and for three years, Ukrainians have fought to protect that gateway
Harley Bainbridge
Vitalii Liliia Solomia Sofia Iryna Anna Wadim
Yana Sofia Orysia
With thanks to: Marianna Vaszilyiv, and United for Ukraine, for the support in finding participants for this project and the continual support of photography projects across Greater Manchester; Everyday Wigan and Down to Earth for supporting the early development of this project; 10GM, GMCA and Salford CVS for facilitating equipment which enabled the collaborative aspects of this project’s development.
Alex Sheen, Declan Connolly, Max Gorbatskyi and Open Eye Gallery, not only for bringing this work to life, their guidance and feedback, but for their ongoing commitment to supporting photography in the North West.
