War Museums and Photography

War and ‘museum front’ in a digital era: The Ukrainian War Museum during the Russian invasion of Ukraine

“…As noted by Hill (2021: 6), ‘By the Second World War, though, and at least across Europe, museums’ relationship with war propaganda became more difficult.’ In the post-war Western world, museums, including war museums, avoid creating narratives that support war and create antagonisms between states and societies living peacefully within the Euro-Atlantic community (Duffy, 2022). At the same time, as shown by the examples of contemporary museums operating in societies that are experiencing or have recently experienced an armed conflict, these institutions remain an essential space for legitimizing war and mobilizing for the war effort (Bounia and Stylianou-Lambert, 2013; Mendel and Steinberg, 2011). As in the past, national and war-related museums, in particular, can shape narratives about the continuity and importance of the national armed struggle, legitimize the authorities and the army, create the image of the enemy and mobilize society on the ‘home front’.…”

“…The existing literature on the subject mainly concerns the total wars of the 20th century (Hill, 2021;Pearson and Keene, 2017). Although individual studies focus on more contemporary contexts (Bounia and Stylianou-Lambert, 2013;Mendel and Steinberg, 2011), they do not address the weaponization of online media, which is crucial in contemporary warfare. Digital transformation creates a 'new ecology of war' related to, among other aspects, real-time memorialization and a wide range of actors who, by seeking personalized information and reacting immediately to events, participate in the conflict (Ford and Hoskins, 2022;Makhortykh and Bastian, 2022;Merrin and Hoskins, 2020).…”