War Is Personal – is the ongoing visual diary of a Ukrainian, reporting from Ukraine.
I’m not a war photographer, it’s a war happening in my country.
And I’m holding my camera and trying to hide how shaky and nervous my hands are.
Author biography
Julia Kochetova, 32, photojournalist and documentary filmmaker.
Ukrainian, reporting from Ukraine now. Game-changer, troubled daughter, and sometimes punk.
Studied journalism at Taras Shevchenko National University (UA) and Mohyla School of Journalism (UA), participated in IDFA academy (NL).
As a freelancer, she covered the Maidan revolution (2013-2014), the annexation of Crimea (2014), and the Russia-Ukraine war (2014-now). It shapes all her professional path – Julia is a part of the generation of revolution&war. Kochetova uses firsthand storytelling as a method to cover the ongoing Russian-Ukrainian war. She works with mixed media—digital and film photography, poetry—creating an immersive experience of the war she is living through. Her work has been recognized by World Press Photo (2024, Global Winner, Open Format) and the Emmy Awards (2023, VICE News).
Contributor to The Guardian, Bloomberg, Die Zeit, Der Spiegel, VICE, and other media.
Kochetova is focused on the issues of the war generation, post-traumatic stress disorder, and feminism.