An evening at Museum Hilversum with Dutch war photographer Eddy van Wessel marked the release of his new book, Ukraine. Van Wessel is a craftsman of the old school — patient, solitary, the last lone wolf of his sort, standing alongside legends like Don McCullin, Gilles Caron, and Catherine Leroy. He works entirely analog with his Leica cameras and HP5 film, producing deep, powerful black-and-white images that are raw, human, and deeply affecting. His photographs speak of women in despair, children forced to grow up too fast, and men broken by conflict — desperate, indifferent, exhausted, hollowed out. He shows us bombed-out villages and people drained of hope. He also shows the work of the doctors, firemen and rescuers who try to save what can be saved. Van Wessel doesn’t work with fixers or large crews. He goes alone, communicating with gestures, hands, and eyes. He earns trust not with words, but with presence. Through his lens, he does not just document war — he connects with people who endure it and honor them. His work is a profound lesson in humanity. His book is more than a collection. It is a visual symphony, raw and human, each image flowing like music, as he describes it. A profound testament to resilience and an incredible lesson in humanity.
