My Mom Wants to Go Back Home is a documentary diary by photographer Hanna Hrabarska. Together with her mother Iryna, she fled the war in Ukraine, to find a temporary home in the Netherlands. 

'This book is a journey. In the beginning it runs across borders, countries and cities. Later it extends inwards, into a landscape of our thoughts, feelings and emotions'.

Through the lens Hrabarska, Hanna captures the story of her mother forced to leave their country in the face of war. Beautifully designed by Mainstudio (Edwin van Gelder)

After being showcased in numerous galleries and museums around the world, this quiet and intimate personal story of becoming a war refugee now will reach even a bigger audience in a shape of a photo book. 

‘I’m curious, how were people feeling and what were they doing the day before the Second World War?’ 

I thought about it for a moment.

‘Well, I don’t know,’ I told my friend. 'Probably, the same as us.’

Early the next morning, I was lying in bed in complete darkness. I turned on my phone, as I always do. The news declared: 'Putin Invades Ukraine.’ Clueless about the future, I went from Kyiv to my hometown Kryvyi Rih to pick up my mother, and in a course of the following week I abandoned my two homes: a little cozy apartment in the capital's city centre, that I bought just a couple years ago, and my mother's home, where I was born and raised, and where I was coming back every month to spend time with my parents.

Hanna Hrabarska and her mother Iryna travelled through Uzhgorod, Mali Selmentsi, Kosice, Budapest, and Munich before arriving in the Netherlands, where they started their new lives as war refugees. Since the very beginning of their journey, Hanna has been taking photos of her mother. Hanna described everything seemed so surreal that she wanted to capture all their moments on the road as proof they where actually happening. The process of taking photos also served as a distraction and gave Hanna a sense of control, among the chaos and uncertainty, there was now something she could be sure about, her photos.

Hanna Hrabarska (1986) is a Ukrainian photographer, visual artist, and photojournalist. She holds a Master of Arts in Journalism from the National University of Kiev-Mohyla Academy, Kyiv (2010). Before the war in Ukraine, she ran a small portrait studio in Kyiv. Over the last decade she has established herself as a freelance photographer, photojournalist, and documentary artist — with both commissioned and autonomous work. The artist has been teaching photography courses at the online art & photography school SKVOT, a Ukrainian creative hub based in Kyiv. Hrabarska’s work has been published in numerous media outlets and exhibited in Europe and USA. Her photographs have been part of the group show This is Ukraine; Defending Freedom at 2022 Venice Biennale.  

www.hannahrabarska.com

www.mainstudio.com