"The Doors of the House Rust Hopelessly"
Exhibition by Natasha Rudenko
Opening Reception: May 24, 2025
Keystone Studio, Los Angeles
Press Release
Los Angeles, CA - Documentary photographer and visual artist Nataliya Rudenko invites you to the opening reception of The Doors of the House Rust Hopelessly, a powerful and intimate photographic exhibition capturing the destruction wrought by war on the homes and lives of ordinary people in Ukraine. This exhibition, which opens on May 24, 2025, at Keystone Studio in Los Angeles, is expected to be the first documentary photography show in the city focused on the ongoing war in Ukraine.
This exhibition reflects Rudenko's ongoing commitment to documenting the human cost of conflict, focusing on the remnants of life left behind in war-torn spaces. Through the lens of her camera, Rudenko explores the haunting aftermath of destruction, portraying not just physical damage but the emotional and psychological toll on those who live through it. With her fine art and documentary background, Rudenko dives deep into the emotional resonance of ruined homes: their walls, doors, and interiors - symbols of both loss and survival.
Having spent months in Ukraine and along its borders documenting the war’s impact, Rudenko combines stark, unflinching imagery with a compassionate perspective, engaging the viewer with the silent stories embedded in each destroyed home. The work showcases not only the physical devastation but also the lingering trauma of displacement, survival, and resilience. Through her lens, these locations become poignant metaphors for larger narratives of human suffering and defiance.
Rudenko’s photographs invite reflection on the realities of conflict and the profound effects on communities, offering a visual and emotional narrative that speaks to the shared humanity of those impacted by war. Each photograph in The Doors of the House Rust Hopelessly encapsulates the weight of both the historical moment and the personal experiences of those who have lost everything yet continue to rebuild their lives amidst the ruins.
The exhibition will run through June 2, 2025 at Keystone Studio. Visitors are encouraged to join the opening reception on May 24, where they can engage with Rudenko’s thought-provoking work and gain a deeper understanding of the human cost of war. A portion of the proceeds from sales of the photographs will benefit humanitarian aid initiatives in Ukraine.
About Natasha Rudenko
Natasha Rudenko is a documentary photographer and visual artist whose work explores themes of identity, traces, trauma, and human resilience. Natasha Rudenko graduated with an MFA in Photography from the New York Film Academy in Los Angeles in 2016, where she currently lives and works. In addition to being an artist, she is also an educator, teaching degree and certificate programs at her Alma Mater and certificate programs at the UCLA Extension.
Natasha Rudenko has exhibited her work in the US and internationally as part of various group shows including New York, Los Angeles, Athens, Tempe, and Budapest. Her work was also in several annual publications of feminist and queer art, including Issues II and Femme Fotale Volume III Analog and Femme Fotale Volume IV Leafless.
In 2022 Rudenko had a solo exhibition of her project Be/longing at El Nido Art space in Los Angeles.
Dusty window seals and creaky doors, a lost shoe and a forgotten toy, cracks on the cup and destroyed walls, lost dogs, dried plants… The wind in the school hallways plays in torn curtains silently. A school. The school. Your school. Your curtains, your family, your house, your garden, your cup, your shoe, your land, your river, your heart that is broken, your home that is lost, your windows that are shuttered… Your brother, your sister, your cousin, your nephew, your school friend, your roommate, your uncle, your aunt, your neighbor, your grandma, your grandpa, your father, your mother…
There’s no pain, there’s your pain, there’s no loss, there’s your loss, there’s not fear, there’s your fear, there’s no story, there’s your story
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When the full-scale war broke out in Ukraine, I felt crushed. My former country’s military was committing unspeakable violence, and the silence from many of my fellow countrymen only made it worse. At first, I felt helpless, but soon, that helplessness turned into action. I focused on volunteering, trying to do whatever I could to help. But as time passed, I felt the need to pick up my camera again. I wanted to document, reflect, and process what was happening.
My first trip was to Poland to photograph the stories of Ukrainian refugees. The next year, I spent three months in Ukraine, photographing the effects of war. As a fine art photographer, I’m used to focusing on the aftermath of events, but I wasn’t sure I could capture what was happening in real time. What I came to realize, though, is that the moment you click the shutter, it’s already in the past. No matter what’s happening, that image is always a reflection.
So, I stopped worrying about capturing the immediate violence. Instead, I focused on what’s left behind: the craters from missiles, the buildings reduced to rubble, and the quiet aftermaths of destruction. It’s not just about physical damage. It’s about loss: loss of life, dreams, relationships, futures. War takes away so much more than just bodies; it erases the bonds we share, the hopes we have, and the paths we might have walked together.
I returned to Ukraine in the fall of 2024 to continue this work, trying to capture the longer-term impact of the war, the scars that stay long after the fighting stops. Through these photographs, I want to show the invisible damage, the emotional and social toll of war, that’s left behind, even when the world moves on.
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The images document Ukrainian Refugees at Warsaw Humanitarian Aid Center and Ukrainian Refugees waiting for their papers at the Hostel "Hotelik Okecie, 39".
Shot in Warsaw, Poland in June-July 2022.
