Capturing everyday existence near war zones

Presented by Sydney Writers' Festival

A few kilometres from the battlefield, Ukrainian civilians are attempting to lead ‘normal’ lives.

Since 2018, journalist Alisa Sopova and photographer Anastasia Taylor-Lind’s collaborative project, 5km From the Frontline, has captured everyday existence near the conflict zone, documenting the lives lost or interrupted as the war escalates.

Get dispatches from this extraordinary documentary photography series, which offers a unique, personal and deeply affecting look at the war in Ukraine and its devastating impact on those closest to it.

Hosted by ABC RN’s Hamish Macdonald.

Presenters

Anastasia Taylor-Lind - International
Anastasia Taylor-Lind is a British/Swedish photojournalist and a poet. For the past decade Anastasia has collaborated with Alisa Sopova, a journalist and an anthropologist from the city of Donetsk in eastern Ukraine. In 2023, she received the Canon Female Photojournalist Award for her long-term reporting from eastern Ukraine. Anastasia is a National Geographic Society Explorer, TED Fellow and 2016 Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. Her first book, Maidan – Portraits from the Black Square, about the 2014 revolution in Ukraine, was published the same year. Her debut poetry collection, One Language was published by Smith|Doorstop in 2022.

Alisa Sopova - International
Alisa Sopova is a journalist and an anthropologist whose work focuses on civilian experiences of the war in Ukraine. Having experienced military violence first-hand, she has devoted her career to exploring storytelling as a means to convey the true-to-life experiences of daily life during the war. Alisa's reporting from Ukraine has been featured in The New York Times, TIME Magazine, The Wall Street Journal, The Guardian and NPR. She is a co-author and co-founder of the #5KFromTheFrontline project.

Hamish Macdonald - Australian
Hamish Macdonald is host of The Project on Paramount/Ten and a host of Global Roaming on ABC RN. Outside of Australia he has worked for Channel 4 News in the UK, Al Jazeera English and America's ABC where he was International Affairs Correspondent. He has won numerous awards including a Walkley for current affairs journalism and was named Young Journalist of the Year by Britain's Royal Television Society. In 2016 he became a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. Hamish has covered conflicts in Afghanistan, Iraq, Libya and Ukraine, the nuclear disaster in Japan, uprisings in Hong Kong and Egypt, the London bombings and the rise of ISIS.

Anastasia Taylor-Lind and Alisa Sopova appear thanks to the support of Phillip Keir and Sarah Benjamin.

Presented by Sydney Writers' Festival at Carriageworks