From hobbyist to war photographer

Iva Sidash stayed in Ukraine to document what was happening in her country; she speaks at UW-Madison Sept. 28

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Iva Sidash started doing photography as a hobby in 2019. When Russia invaded Ukraine three years later, she knew she had to stay to document what was happening to her country. “I wanted to be useful to my country and close to the situation,” Sidash tells Isthmus over Zoom from Ukraine. “Obviously it's very dangerous here, but the choice was quite obvious to me.”

Thousands of miles away in Middleton, Wisconsin, Craig Schreiner began to notice the photos Sidash posted on Facebook of refugees at train stations near the Polish-Ukrainian border. 

His eye trained to recognize talented photographers, Schreiner, a former Wisconsin State Journal photographer and photography instructor at Madison College, says he could see trust in the faces of Sidash’s subjects.

“I felt that I understood what she was trying to do with her photography,” says Schreiner. “I decided that I would share everything that she posted because she needed a voice outside of Ukraine. And I've been doing that ever since.”

Schreiner became Facebook friends with Sidash in 2021 after admiring her work at the International Fujifilm Moment Street Photo Awards. He eventually messaged Sidash through Facebook, encouraging her to continue her work. Now a photographer and writer for UW-Whitewater marketing and communications, Schreiner says it’s important to him to support younger photographers.

“I'm at a point in my life where supporting young people is my role now,” says Schreiner. “I still do photography and I love doing it. But I have a huge amount of respect for Iva and a desire to see her be successful.”

Schreiner became especially interested in a series of photos Sidash took of empty and destroyed buildings in reclaimed Ukrainian villages in 2022. He believed they belonged in an exhibit, and pitched the idea to Sidash who was in favor of the idea.

“The exhibit had to be in the right kind of place because these pictures deserve reverence,” says Schreiner. “We have a gallery at Whitewater that's in the University Center. It's at the crossroads of the campus, it's small and kind of intimate and dark except for the spotlights.”

The exhibit — called “The Wall” — will be displayed at the Roberta Fiskum Gallery in the James R. Connor University Center. It is Sidash’s first solo exhibit, featuring 19 photographs. 

Schreiner says he didn’t expect Sidash to travel to Wisconsin for the exhibit, but she generously offered to come and will be here from Sept. 22 to Sept. 29. During her two-week visit to Wisconsin, Sidash will give a talk Sept. 28 at the UW-Madison’s Center for Russia, East Europe and Central Asia, 4-5:15 p.m., in room 206 of Ingraham Hall.

“I'm glad Wisconsin is here for her,” says Schreiner. “ I know she'll be welcomed here.”

When Sidash took up photography as a pastime, she would document social issues in and around her home city of Lviv. She did not do any war photography until 2022, but quickly became emboldened to travel from her home in the west to conflict zones in eastern Ukraine.

Her work focuses heavily on civilians who continue living their lives despite the danger the war presents. She dedicates a large part of her time to building trust with her subjects and listening to their experiences. She says she can understand what they are going through because she is going through it, too.

“The biggest difference between foreign journalists and Ukrainian journalists is foreign journalists come and go, but we are always here,” says Sidash. “And we have these emotions they cannot have because they are not from here.”

Sidash spoke with Isthmus before leaving in mid-August to spend 10 months on a scholarship at the International Center of Photography in New York. She says leaving Ukraine for New York was the hardest decision she has ever made.

“I want to work in New York,” says Sidash. "I want to stay there to study and to get new contacts in photography. But I’m leaving my country and that's really difficult. It's very hard to know that I am in a safe place and my close family and friends are not. I feel a complete sadness that I'm leaving.”

But she is excited about seeing her work on display and meeting Schreiner — who has become a good friend to her — in person in September.

“I'm looking forward to Wisconsin even more than to New York for now,” says Sidash. “I know New York is wonderful and studying is wonderful, but the exhibition, Craig and his family are important for me emotionally.”

Schreiner, who will host Sidash at the Middleton home he shares with his wife, is equally excited.

“I feel very privileged to have connected with Iva, who can see so clearly and see on so many different levels artistically and journalistically,” Schreiner says. “At the same time, I wish there would be no war, and she wishes there would be no war.”