Reflections of War (from series)

On the morning of February 24, 2022, the Russian army invaded Ukraine at Vladimir Putin´s command. By the evening, thousands of people had already gathered outside the Russian consulate in Brno, a city with a sizeable Ukrainian community. Demonstrations in support of Ukraine continued for several days. As I was still studying in Brno at the time and had close Ukrainian friends, the war touched me, and capturing the protests was one of the ways for me to gain at least a small sense of purpose in the sea of helplessness in which we all continue to live.

author

Tomáš Hrivňák

professional photographer, Denník N

I´ve majored in Media Analysis and Research at Masaryk University in Brno. Until 2020, I´ve worked as a photojournalist at the local Brno media outlet Brnenskadrbna.cz. I spent one semester on a study stay in Iceland, where I published photographs in several media. In 2018, I completed a three-month journalistic internship at the daily newspaper Košice:dnes. In 2019, I published a longform on drought in Slovakia in Denník N, which was part of my bachelor´s thesis. I received the Arnost Heinrich Prize, awarded by the Czech Syndicate of Journalists for the best bachelor thesis. Since 2020, I have been writing and photographing for Denník N. In 2021, I won the Slovak Press Photo Award in the World of Art and Culture category. I won the 2021 Journalism Award in the category of written reportage.