Visualisation of the Living Environment’S Destruction / Recovery in the Wartime Ukraine

The aim of the study is to identify the variability of actors, ways and effects of media visualisation of the living environment’s destruction and reconstruction in wartime Ukraine. The shock at the beginning of Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, the inability of most of the population to believe in the reality of what is happening - bombing, occupation of settlements, lack of electricity, destruction of buildings and entire cities, daily threat to life - has gradually given way to the forced routine of the population's existence in a state of permanent threat. Institutional efforts are aimed at restoring the country's living environment - repairing damage, assessing existing losses, and seeking resources for further reconstruction. For institutional actors, the use of visual evidence (graphs, diagrams, photos, videos, etc.) is primarily a way of compressing information, updating the news agenda, and recording war crimes for prosecution. The dissemination of media images is also a way to appeal to the imagination about the enormous scale of ruin, environmental damage, and to draw attention to institutional and human resilience to combat the chaos of war. Life in the era of digital and online communication involves ordinary people - witnesses of events - in the practice of documenting. A large number of photos and videos of ruins are posted on social media, supplemented by discussions and comments, forming an emotional accompaniment to the events of the war. Artistic reflections on changing landscapes convey shocking information to the audience in an artistic form, facilitating its emotional acceptance, and showing that life goes on. Thus, the variability of the authors' institutional affiliation, different modes, genres, techniques, as well as different motives for creating images contribute to the diversity of practices and meanings of visualising the violent alteration of living environment during the Russian war against Ukraine.