Maurine Mercier
Ukraine: ‘Telling the story of the war by listening to life’

© Yalda Moaiery

FROM OCTOBER 6 TO NOVEMBER 8

Maurine Mercier
Ukraine: ‘Telling the story of the war by listening to life’

On 24 February 2022, Russia launched its all-out war against Ukraine. The invasion marked a historic turning point and a major geopolitical upheaval. The Swiss-Canadian journalist Maurine Mercier then moved to the country. For nearly five years, she has been documenting for radio the deadliest conflict in Europe since the Second World War. Her podcast Carnets d’Ukraine is an immersive, sensitive and deeply human account. A three-time winner of the Bayeux Award, Maurine Mercier offers, as the war approaches its fifth anniversary, an insight into her audio work. In this exhibition, she recounts the war, its suffering, but above all, life.

Maurine Mercier allows herself to recount the war as she sees it, as she feels it. A terrible suffering that befalls an entire population, but also a resilience that prevails: “When you realise you could die tomorrow, struck by a missile, you don’t lie to yourself. And you live, you live, you live to the full.” These are the words of Alexei, aged 40, a resident of Kherson who welcomed her into his home for two weeks, in this city on the front line, under bombardment. It was there, two years ago, that the podcast Carnets d’Ukraine was born.
Faced with this war, one often feels powerless. “Carnets d’Ukraine is my way, in my own very small way, of trying to ensure that these people are heard. To be heard, when you are being killed, is to remain alive.”

*** “Telling the story of the war by listening to life” – a title inspired by Télérama.

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