Our Sincere Toils

Our Sincere Toils is the sixth title from Melbourne-based publishing house, Bloom. The publication kicks off the first of the solo artist series, featuring images from UK artist Tommy Sussex, taken throughout his travels in Kyiv and rural Ukraine during the initial protests in February, 2014.

Spending time with Ukrainian people of my own age, I began to understand the problems and restrictions they faced. During this period I witnessed Ukraine’s response to the European trade deal U-turn that had enormous economic and political implications.

This experience resulted in a fascination with the culture and politics of Ukraine and I decided to go back to the country to continue observing and exploring this complex and troubled nation.
I returned to Kyiv on the 21st of February, 2014 – the day after more than 50 pro-European militants were shot dead by government forces and the course of Ukraine’s history was irrevocably altered.

In the second part of this project I travelled across the country, exploring and observing life outside the Euromaidan protest site. I wanted to gain an insight into how ordinary Ukrainian people sought to free themselves from corruption and exploitation. — Tommy Sussex