DIY

Brutal DIY Weapons of the Ukrainian Revolution

Photos by Tom Jamieson

Ukraine has been in a state of political unrest for quite some time now, from protests, to the situation with Russia in Crimea. Meanwhile, photojournalists have been on the scene giving the world a glimpse of what's going on, and most of what we find are powerful images from the frontline. However, photographer Tom Jamieson went a different approach, instead of going after the frontline of battles that ensued, he became intrigued with what civilians were using. It was their homemade weapons that became subject to a series of portraits by Jamieson to show how determined these protesters were. Whether to fight or defend against government security forces, some fought with little more than sticks, bats and sledgehammers, and others were a bit more creative with their weaponry.

As Jamieson got a closer look, he noticed that some of these weapons were marked with names of home towns, messages for their intended targets, and some were decorated with religious symbols, or political cartoons. Each of these personalized tools of revolution were made with what he describes as a "DIY nature" that held a sense of pride among their owners, and each were detailed to tell its own story. In design, each were made with a specific and brutal purpose: "clubs and maces for bashing, slingshots and stones for hurling, and forked pikes for ripping the shields out of the hands of police."

In this photo series, the weapons are shown in the hands of their owners against a black backdrop, but far from a photo studio. Along with his assistant, Jamieson carried a black background cloth with them and they would set up outside in the square, in occupied buildings, or near the protesters’ tents, when they found a protester carrying an unique-looking weapon. Another interesting point of this series is that had to be shot specifically in the early morning or twilight hours to keep lighting consistent from one subject to the next.

Check out the following photos of the extraordinary weaponry found, and be sure to keep tabs on more of his work, as he sets out to visit Crimea, and separate trips to Eastern and Western Ukraine to shoot much more than weaponry.

[Via Wired]

by Angela E. Mejia