Dad on the phone, photographers: Kanaplev & Leidik

‘Sonia often calls her dad to help her when she is doing her homework. Sometimes she says: “I want to go into the street with Dad!” She will then take her phone, make a call, turn on the camera and walk out with him. We also go for walks in the park together with friends, Dad is on the phone then and we introduce him to everyone. It’s a half-life of sorts. Half here, half in Ukraine,’ says Oksana, who arrived in Poland with her daughter on 21 March 2022.


After Russia launched a military invasion of Ukraine, many Ukrainian families were forced to leave their homes and flee to Poland. Since most men are unable to leave Ukraine, families have been separated.

Yulia Leidik and Evgene Kanaplev are Belarusian photographers who emigrated from Minsk to Warsaw three days after the start of the war in Ukraine. They have been working on a project called Dad on the Phone since 2022, portraying Ukrainian families in their Polish homes. The classic portraits have one disturbing element in them - the father is only present on a smartphone screen. Thanks to phones and computers, men spend time with their loved ones during important celebrations and simple daily activities: taking walks together, eating meals or doing homework.

Dad on the Phone is a story of the drama of war as perceived by families who, separated by it, go on living their hybrid lives. It is about Ukrainian families trying to cope on a daily basis with the harsh reality of war and about technology helping home come to the frontline and the frontline come home. The poignant project also forces us to reflect on the role of women and the category of contemporary masculinity in post-Soviet countries.

The exhibition captures portraits of refugee families in their natural surroundings, often marked by temporariness and readiness to return home at any time.

Supported by: Staromiejski Dom Kultury, Galeria Promocyjna
Partners: Centrum Mieroszewskiego, Gaude Polonia, PerspAKTIV, RAZAM, Ambasada Kultury and IN SITU
Curator: Kaja Werbanowska