For more than four decades, the US photojournalist Paula Bronstein has travelled to places overlooked by the wider world, including countries scarred by war, such as Afghanistan and Ukraine.Bronstein says her life’s mission has been to “bear witness to critical moments” and to “create images that evoke true empathy in others”.Her prize-winning photographs document political conflict, humanitarian crises and social injustice. Yet she is equally drawn to the quieter moments of everyday life: to “joy and happiness and the full spectrum of human experience”. She attributes her work to an “insatiable curiosity” and a desire to document people’s “enduring humanity” amid tragedy.
At a workshop in Lviv for blind veterans, Ivan Rozuman receives instruction from a mobility trainer as he learns to navigate the streets. Rozuman joined the military before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. He says he has been wounded twice and undergone more than 50 operations. So much shrapnel remains lodged in his body, he says, that he has lost count. He was first injured during a Kharkiv offensive in 2022 while serving with the 25th Brigade. Ivan lost his sight and has hearing loss. After leaving military service, he was caught in an explosion near his home in in Zaporizhzhia and almost died.
