Two years ago, Brits were invited to host Ukrainian refugees for six months under the 'Homes for Ukraine' scheme, but many are still living together today.
Since Russia's invasion, 147,500 Ukrainians have arrived in the UK, marking the first large-scale welcoming of refugees into British homes since WWII. In April 2022, Valentyna Romanchuk fled from Kharkiv and arrived in Moorhaven, a secluded Devon village. As more Ukrainians followed, 1 began photographing the growing community to explore how two distant worlds had converged.
I wanted to understand how people rebuilt their lives after losing everything and how it felt to settle into a stranger's home in a part of the UK that voted to leave the EU.
Over time, the project evolved into a reflection on how openness to difference benefits both sides, even as anti-immigrant sentiment rises. Eighty percent of sponsors said they'd host again, regardless of where that person was fleeing from. Unlike the 2015 migrant crisis, the Ukraine war brought seven times as many people to Europe, yet without the same political backlash or fatalities en route. What happened in Moorh aven counters the UK's anti-immigrant narrative of recent years and leaves one question remaining - if we can do this with Ukrainians, why not all refugees?
The title is taken from a song that has become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance since the invasion. They are also a testament to the imprint this small communityhas left on an otherwise quiet, remote corner of the UK.
Frankie is a British photographer and journalist whose work is about the resilience of displaced and marginalised communities and how people create a sense of belonging. Previously, Frankie has photographed women fleeing Iran in the wake of Mahsa Amini's death, Uyghur diaspora in Norway's Arctic Circle, and life in an abandoned Greek primary school used as a shelter by families fleeing the Middle East.
Frankie's work has been exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery as a finalist in the Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize in 2023 and 2024.
She was shortlisted for the Sony World Photography Awards 2024 and won OpenWalls Arles and Portrait of Britain Vol. 6.
She has shot for the New York Times, Guardian, Coda Story, Zeit, and others.
She began her career working as a staff photojournalist for DevonLive, a local paper in the Southwest of England, where she specialised in human interest features about hidden communities.
Frankie is a self-taught photographer. She graduated with a Master's in International Journalism from City University and attended the 2023 Eddie Adams Workshop.
