Kurmaz began the project following the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. This diaristic journey into war tells the deeply personal story of his life, alongside the lives of those around him who are struggling to survive in constant danger.
Sasha Kurmaz, from Red Horse. © Sasha Kurmaz 2022–2025
The 800-page visual diary brings together handmade collages in a first-hand account of life in Ukraine perpetually reshaped by the destructive force of war. Kurmaz combines documentary photographs, notes, drawings, newspaper cuttings and found objects to capture both his own experiences and those of the people around him.
Alongside his thoughts, fears and pain, the accumulation of these fragile collages questions how prolonged states of emergency and ongoing war affect individuals, society, democratic systems and public spaces. Red Horse is an urgent reflection on how war reshapes lives and our collective memory, while asking what it means to make art in times of conflict.
Get to know Sasha Kurmaz
Sasha Kurmaz (b. 1986) is an interdisciplinary artist and photographer from Kyiv, Ukraine. He holds a master's degree in design from the National Academy of Managerial Staff of Culture and Arts in Kyiv (2008).
He uses photography, video, book production, collaborative and participatory practices, performative interaction, and intervention in public space in his artistic practice. His work focuses on urban space, society, its development and transformations, collective and personal trauma, the impact of war on personal and group identities, and the dynamics of relationships between the individual and the power structures.
Kurmaz has participated in many international group exhibitions and festivals, including exhibitions at Akademie der Künste – AdK (Germany), Museum de Fundatie (the Netherlands), Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej Zamek Ujazdowski (Poland), ZKM Center for Art and Media (Germany), Foto Arsenal Wien (Austria), DOX Centre for Contemporary Art (Czech Republic), C/O Berlin (Germany), W139 (the Netherlands), Centrum för fotografi CFF (Sweden), Albertinum – SKD (Germany), and more.
His work has been published in a wide range of international magazines, including Liberation, Kometa, Vice, Forbes, Krytyka Polityczna, Bloomberg Businessweek, Süddeutsche Zeitung, Die ZEIT.
