Representing the unrepresentable. An interpretative study of Ukraine war photojournalism

This article investigates the representational strategies of professional photojournalists covering the war in Ukraine following Russia’s 2022 invasion. Through a qualitative thematic analysis of 88 photographs produced by 10 international photojournalists, complemented by an interpretative framework grounded in visual sociology and visual grammar, the study explores how contemporary war imagery constructs humanitarian visuality and mediates distant suffering. Six recurring themes – death, desolation, destruction, blood, rescue, and escape – and two interpretative patterns – empathetic/humanitarian, and documentary/historical – emerge from the analysis, revealing how embodied vulnerability is visually articulated. These findings indicate a shift toward a more dignified and less objectifying approach to atrocity photography, compared with the past, prioritising ethical witnessing over sensationalism. Technical and compositional choices – including proximity, imperfection, and immediacy – reinforce the testimonial value of the images. While based on a qualitative, non-representative sample, this study foregrounds both the victims’ lived experience and the photographers’ ethical engagement, arguing that photojournalistic representations of the war in Ukraine contribute to reconfiguring the visual politics of suffering through documentary and humanitarian visual narratives.