A Photographic Exhibition: Glimmers of Hope, Pieces of Peace
There is never only one story, but countless stories of lives that a war has interrupted.
There is never only one story, but countless stories of lives that have been disrupted by war. The effects of war extend beyond battlefields, breaking families, communities, schools, water pipes, institutions, trust, and minds. Behind the political talks and propaganda, there are the experiences of individual people. Silenced stories, suppressed frustration, and unspoken anger. Other narratives of fear, escape, loss, but also of hope, solidarity and peace.
Glimmers of Hope, Pieces of Peace exhibits the other stories of peace and war in Ukraine. It reveals sites of life that do not occupy the media space: mundane, personal, and emotional experiences, spaces that are reserved for care and compassion, moments that break the dominance of war.
The images in the exhibition were taken by people living life under the shadow of war – in exile in Europe or Ukraine, as internally displaced citizens or returnees. Their photographs do not ask for pity or revenge, but recognition and the right to exist. Giving voice to these personal narratives, the exhibition also paves way to alternative images of war that do not just repeat messages of desperation, destruction, and loss, but show agency, stamina, and hope, and above all the unending desire for peace of the people most affected by the war.
The photographs in the exhibition are part of the “Finding Peace in Everyday – A Visual Exploration of the Narratives of Peace and War in Ukraine” dissertation research project by doctoral researcher Juulia Niiniranta at Tampere Peace Research Institute TAPRI, with funding from the Kone Foundation.
The exhibition will be on display at the Sibelius Museum during ABOAGORA: Venus, the Bringer of Peace from September 10 to 12, 2025.
Photo by Eva
Juulia Niiniranta is a doctoral researcher at Tampere Peace Research Institute TAPRI. With a background in moral and social philosophy, Juulia is currently working on her doctoral research project that deals with peace narratives by people living in war-affected circumstances. Her research also explores the potential of photography in peace research, using photography as a primary language with participants. Visual narratives convey alternative stories of war and peace, stories where hope, recovery, and capability are present. Outside academia, Juulia works at art departments in film productions, does illustrations and photography, and performs voluntary work in Youth Walk-in therapy consultations.