Pain and Struggle

7th — 21st June
Open daily from 11 — 4pm
Closed Sundays. Free admission

Pain and Struggle is an exhibition of extraordinarily powerful photographs of the Ukraine war, taken by a serving Master Sergeant in the Ukrainian Army, Roman Naumov.

The images depict the power of modern weaponry, the conditions in which soldiers and civilians are having to live, the devastation of Ukrainian buildings and infrastructure, the emotional impact on soldiers and civilians and how tender moments can still exist amongst the horrors. They show clearly what modern warfare can do to a country and its people and why everything possible must be done to support Ukraine and stop the war spreading across Europe. 

Naumov’s photographs offer a deep insight into the nightmare Ukrainians are facing. The images of destroyed vehicles and buildings reveal the devastating effectiveness of modern weapons and what they can do to steel and concrete. It is not difficult to imagine what they do to human beings. The expressions on the faces of soldiers bear witness both to their understandable fear and to their indomitable courage and fierce determination to defend their country in the face of an enemy with far greater resources at its disposal. There is a particularly poignant photograph of an elderly man looking out of a window, wearing an expression of sadness and despair at the futility of war.

Master Sergeant Roman Naumov

Roman Naumov was born on October 19, 1979, in the Kyiv region. After graduating from high school and college, he served in the Ukrainian army from 1999 until 2002. In 2015 he took up photography professionally and, following the full-scale invasion, started volunteering in his hometown of Bila Tserkva (White Church). He travelled with volunteers delivering aid to Borodyanka, Makariv, Irpin (Kyiv region), Kherson, Mykolaiv and Chernihiv, photographing the work of volunteers, the destruction of cities and the grief of innocent civilians. In early 2023, he rejoined the army and was sent to the Joint Press Center of the Northern Defence Forces. In February 2024, he was relocated with his unit to the Eastern Front, where he is now.

The request to mount the exhibition in Norwich came from Major Oleksandr Bielov, head of most of the media communications for the Ukrainian Army, who before the war was Editor-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Parliament’s television channel, RADA. When the Russians invaded Ukraine in 2022, his family fled to England, where they were sponsored and hosted by a Norfolk couple.