Who Is Serhiy Perebyinis?
Photojournalism, being one of the most contentious areas of journalism, is in constant turmoil. However, over the years, amid months and years of photojournalism lectures and workshops, one photo really stuck when it comes to making a lasting impression. Serhiy Perebyinis, who works at Kyiv Post newspaper, posted a photo on his Twitter account along with captions giving us the details of how he found out about his wife and children’s deaths. The picture of the anguished Ukrainian father holding his dead son shocked thousands of people who shared it on Twitter.
Serhiy Perebyinis: Family Wife & Childrens
But for Serhiy Perebyinis, the distraught father, it was confirmation of the death of his entire family. The tragic story has become one of the most powerful symbols in Ukraine’s bloody conflict with Russian-backed separatists. I don’t know the real name of this man. Everyone calls him Ukraine Dad. A tragic photo he took at the funeral of his wife and two daughters in the Ukrainian city of Odesa went viral on Twitter last month. The touching image attracted sympathy from tens of thousands who posted it to their accounts and shared it on Facebook. Jenna Matouk, who runs a pro-Ukraine account called Syria Sourire, posted photos on Wednesday that she said showed the body of Perebyinis along with the bodies of two other men and their child. She said the child was alive but in critical condition. When you have a wife, a daughter and a son, what could possibly tear them apart? A shocking photo. Yes, the one where you are holding the little one in your arms. The one where your pale complexion stands out from the rest of your family members, and against the background of the heavens. But it changes everything – when it’s not your kids you’re holding in your arms.
Δ
