Roman Chornomaz: The Optics of Battle

Franko's phrase "Only to fight is to live..." is fully and directly applicable to the biography of Roman Chornomaz, a photographer, activist, participant of the Maidan Revolution, and warrior. 

A man who fought for the Ukrainian language and memory, fought against illness, fought against Russia in its various aggressive manifestations. Yet at the same time, he was a quiet and focused man, who was brought up with a love for the unhurried pace of growing crops, a love for cooking, for farmer’s markets where you can take your time choosing food and at the same time talk to those who made it, share your interest and experience. 

A man who, according to his family and friends, was able to be a silent but integral part of various communities. 

A man who is very well described as ‘observant’ - someone who knows how to see, who spares no time and energy for contemplation, who puts all of himself into the process. 

It is not surprising, therefore, that the lens as a means of observing the world has become an integral part of Roman's life. For many years, it was a camera lens: documenting streets, conferences, festivals, travels with friends, movement, the flickering of people’s eyes, events, landscapes. And finally, it became a sniper rifle lens. 

Because that was his conscious choice.

That is the logic of being, in all of its terrible symbolism: I am where I have to be, doing what I know best - looking through the scope. And thanks to Roman's ability to see, we can see too. Images that reflect the continuity of our resistance and struggle. It is too difficult to apply the word ‘fixed’ to them, they are so dynamic in nature, volatile in the sense that the memory of the person who contemplates them will immediately throw up a certain sequence of internal imprints of emotions and actions that have been layered over time. 

Here, in the photo, he moves from November 2013 to summer 2023, from Kyiv to Bakhmut. Condensing. He misses a lot of details. But it snatches something climactic from the flow, something too enduring, yet also not lived. 

Something that whimpers and echoes with pain, but speaks of stubborn strength. It shows it, highlights it in one individual person, and through him - in many. Those who rescued and shielded from bullets on the Maidan, who brought tea and wrote songs, who fell on the snowy pavement and got up to stand shoulder to shoulder in front of a new and old threat. 

And continue to repel it, to ward it off, to resist it.

To carry the ever-increasing weight of responsibility, love and remembrance. More and more - because the share of those killed by Russia in one way or another is distributed among the consciously living. 

And commemoration is elevated to a kind of communal action. Therefore, by looking at these photos, rewriting them through our own senses, learning the story of Roman and his brothers-in-arms, we not only honour their deeds, but also say: the foundation you laid will not go to waste, I will be responsible for it, I will carry it forward. 

Translation: Yuliia Kohut 
Photos: Roman Chornomaz, Diana Delyurman