Sunflowers Will Still Grow

Sunflower is the national flower of Ukraine and has been used as a symbol of peace throughout Ukraine's history. 

This is a multimedia art project to document the stories of Ukrainian refugees who fled to Bernberg (population 5,000) in Gummersbach, Germany, after Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24th, 2022.

It is an ongoing, personal long-term project to focus on fascinating Ukrainian culture and their integration journey into the German countryside, with the final outcome of producing a multimedia story using video interviews, texts, and portraits.

The UNHCR termed this as one of the largest human displacement crises in the world, with 13+ million Ukrainians fleeing their homes.

It is very important to document this time to understand how Ukrainian people lived through Europe's worst refugee crisis since WWII. It will serve as an important visual evidence in the history of human culture and migration.

Team: Anastasiia Reshetnyk is an 18-year-old Ukrainian refugee. She is studying journalism and is proficient in 3 languages: Ukrainian, Russian, and English. She is lead on writing part of this project. Saurabh Narang is an award-winning visual storyteller who has produced 20+ multimedia projects for Deutsche Welle. He is lead on visual part of this project. They both live in Bernberg.