I participated in the Canadian Forces Artist Program (CFAP) 2018-2019 through the Canadian War Museum (CWM) in Ottawa, ON.  In December 2018 I was embedded with the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) in Ukraine on Operation UNIFIER. This operation is a CAF mission to support the Security Forces of Ukraine. The operation’s focus is to assist with security force training to help them improve and build their capability and capacity.

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My initial goal was to examine the overlapping military cultures and assess how the history of war and architecture of war in the region impacts the missions operational mandate. During my deployment, I documented the infrastructures used for military training. My particular interest was the integration of historic and contemporary technology and tactics on the landscape and on the battlefield. Trench systems, bunkers, and checkpoints set up to protect and exert control over the terrain reflect a century of conflict in the region. Many structures have been re-purposed for new use. Following the embed, I travelled independently of the CAF across Ukraine where I interviewed politicians, diplomats, NGO's, journalists, and civilians to get a broader understanding of the current situation in Ukraine and the war in the East at that time. In 2022, four years after the deployment, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, giving a new immediacy to this work.

 

Based on the visual explorations and research conducted on site, I developed a body of work that consists of mostly photography and video. This work was exhibited at the CWM as part of the CFAP Group 9 Exhibition from November 3rd, 2023 - September 2nd, 2024.​

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