The Optics of Battle: Documentary photography by Roman Chornomaz
Date/Time
December 4, 2025
15:00 - 16:30 CEST/CET
IDM Seminar Room, Hahngasse 6/Mezzanin/17, A-1090 Wien & online
Roman Chornomaz was a Ukrainian photographer, activist, and military volunteer with the call sign Corsair. The commemorative exhibition of his works ‘The Optics of Battle’, curated by Kateryna Mikhalitsyna and hosted by INDEX in February–March 2025, will now be on display at the IDM.
Join us for the vernissage on 4 December, with reflections and remarks by Sasha Dovzhyk (Head of INDEX: Institute for Documentation and Exchange, Lviv) and Sebastian Schäffer (Director, IDM).
Roman Chornomaz was born on 11 May 1976 in Uman, Cherkasy region, in central Ukraine. His father, Bohdan Chornomaz, was a historian, dissident, and former Soviet political prisoner, and a member of the Ukrainian Helsinki Union. His mother, Tetiana Chornomaz, is a journalist, civic activist, and volunteer.
Chornomaz worked in Kyiv for many years as a journalist and photo correspondent. He was an active participant in the Orange Revolution (2004), and the Revolution of Dignity (2013–14). His photographs of the events of 20 February 2014 on Instytutska Street, when security forces shot unarmed protesters, became part of the evidence base documenting the crimes committed by Ukraine’s then government against its own people.
When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, Roman Chornomaz joined the army and went on to become one of its most effective snipers. He was killed on the night between 12 and 13 June 2023 in the Donetsk region. He was posthumously awarded the Order For Courage, 3rd Class.
“It is hardly surprising, then, that the lens — a tool for observing the world — became an inseparable part of Roman’s life. For many years, it was the lens of a camera, and in the end, the lens of a sniper rifle. That was his conscious choice. There is a terrifying, symbolic logic to this act: ‘I am where I must be, doing what I do best — looking through the sight’. And through this act of looking, Roman enables us to see too — to see the frames that capture the continuity of our resistance and struggle,” noted Ukrainian poet Kateryna Mikhalitsyna, the author of Roman Chornomaz’s portrait for PEN Ukraine’s and The Ukrainians project People of Culture Taken Away by the War.
Roman Chornomaz was distinguished by his ability to see more than others and to notice what truly mattered in the smallest details. Through his photographs, he told a story of struggle — a struggle for freedom, without which he could not imagine life. Describing himself as an ‘unpretentious bloke’, Roman nevertheless made the choice to fight, as there was no other path he could take, according to his sister Sofiia Chornomaz.
Register here to participate on site:
Register here for the Zoom webinar:
https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_YwJde7juTyue9iD_5Tz1hw#/registration
Youtube-Livestream:
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