Rostyslav Averchuk
Lviv (Ukraine) (EFE).- The dream of having his first solo exhibition came true posthumously for Maxim Burda, a civilian photographer turned volunteer soldier who died in combat near Bachmut.
“Despite the most horrible thing that can be in this world, war, Maxim somehow managed to take very kind pictures, full of light,” said his friend Inna Ternavska at the opening of the “Heavenly Photographer” exhibition in Lviv.
More than 200 photographs, including those found on his USB stick after his death, show the faces of the soldiers, their daily life on the front lines, as well as the contrast between the beauty of nature and the devastation caused by Russian bombing.
“A peculiarity of these photos is that Maxim’s companions are still smiling despite everything, that the sun continues to rise and set, that nature is still alive while the soldiers protect us,” Inna told EFE.
“He was a very sensitive man and he felt everything very deeply. I can only imagine how he felt after seeing the horrors of the war because he tried to protect me and only shared a fraction of the experience with him, ”said, for his part, his partner and co-organizer of the exhibition, Maria Lukashuk.
volunteer to war
The young photographer specializing in wedding photos and love stories’ decision to join the army on the first day of the invasion did not come as a surprise to his friends and family.
Inna entered the university together with Maxim in 2014, the year Russia occupied and annexed Crimea and launched hostilities in the Donbas. She remembers that he always cared deeply about the ongoing war and had a strong sense of justice.
Although Maxim dreamed of becoming a world-class photographer and focused on getting better at his profession, he also participated in military training for civilians, preparing for a bigger war he felt was coming.
“I want you to always feel that there is a man by your side who is willing to give his life for you,” María remembers telling her.
Maxim, 25, volunteered to join the army despite being ineligible for military service due to health problems and became a drone operator and guided artillery fire for the 3rd Assault Brigade against Russian forces near Bakhmut. It was there that he was killed, four days before his 26th birthday.
Maxim avoided talking to Maria in the last week of his life so she wouldn’t know how bad he felt.
“Your unit suffered many losses. He kept repeating the same phrase: you have no idea what people are dying here. The best are dying, ”she told Efe Maria Lukashuk.
make your dream come true
Maxim wanted his work to live on, his family said, and he always dreamed of an exhibition of the photographs he took during his time as a soldier. His fiancée, his mother and his friends have joined forces to make this dream come true.
“We want to show the price Ukrainian soldiers pay so that people both in Ukraine and in other countries can live freely and enjoy their lives,” Maria said.
In Ukraine, people are fighting and dying for freedom, enduring horrible conditions at the front so that in the future their children can live without the horror of war, he stressed.
“It is very painful. Our warriors give the most valuable thing they have, their life. And even so they do not lose optimism, some inner light. They are fulfilling a great mission and the entire world has a duty to support them,” Inna Ternavska told EFE.
One of the reactions left by visitors reads: “Thank you for your courage. It is thanks to you that my son can still have a childhood.”