From Ukraine with love: Postcards pay tribute to war dead
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. — Most postcards carry a simple sentiment: Wish you were here. But the cards Anastasia Taylor-Lind and Alisa Sopova are mailing randomly to people around the globe convey a haunting message: Wish this stranger was still alive.
The pair hopes their postcards — each scribbled with the name of a victim of armed conflict in Ukraine — will put a human face on war.
“I wanted people to have a more personal experience with conflict,” said Taylor-Lind, a photojournalist who was on assignment for National Geographic when inspiration struck in a post office in the middle of the war zone.
Fighting between Ukrainian government troops and Russia-backed separatists has killed more than 9,600 people in eastern Ukraine since it began in 2014. Ukraine filed a case against Russia this month at the United Nations’ highest court, accusing Moscow of illegally annexing Crimea and illicitly bankrolling rebel groups.