Ukrzaliznytsia, 2025
The Stammering Circle exhibition view
@jamfactory.artcenter , Lviv, Ukraine
For The Stammering Circle, I returned to my project Ukrzaliznytsia in the winter of early 2025, almost three years into a full-scale war. What once felt erotic in its closeness and suspended intimacy has transformed into something heavier. The railway is no longer just a space of travel, but a system of forced movement, evacuation, displacement, medical transport, and survival.
Ukrzaliznytsia is often described as “a country within a country”. During the full scale war, this metaphor becomes literal. Trains carry civilians, soldiers, families, animals, the wounded, the displaced. Routes remain undisclosed. Borders shift. Movement becomes involuntary. The railway turns into a nervous system of a country.
These images exist between exhaustion and hope, routine and rupture, darkness and fleeting moments of tenderness. They are shaped by contingency, collective trauma, and the quiet persistence of life in transit.
Artist: Julie Poly
Producer:
@olgachabanna @anastasiyazatula @ivan.levchenko.9
Photo assistants
@iamholodov @ruslan_klinchev
Exhibition designer
@erwindemuer
Curatorial Research Associate
@dashxyz_
Project Director:
@learichardnagle
Curated by Marta Kuzma
@passaiko , my biggest love and inspiration 🩷
Commissioned by Faktura 10, a core initiative of
@ribbon.international 🩷
Finishing:
@onehundredberlin
Exhibition views Roman Huk, Roman Shyshak, Konstyantyn Hlyvlias
With love to
@ukrainianrailways 🩷
