Defiance through Artistic Recreation

When Russian painter Ilya Repin unveiled his painting, "Reply of the Zaporozhian Cossacks", in 1891, he probably didn't anticipate that it would one day become a symbol of Ukrainian resistance to Russian incursion. But now, more than three years into Russia's full-scale invasion, Repin's painting has become a rallying cry: so much so that some Ukrainian soldiers are painstakingly recreating it.

The original painting depicts a legendary (perhaps apocryphal) event around the year 1676, when Ukrainian Cossacks, after defeating Ottoman forces, sent an insult-filled, vulgar letter in response to Sultan Mehmed IV's demand for their surrender. In the painting, a group of hardened warriors laughs with colorful glee as they compose the letter.

Today, as Russian and Ukrainian forces fight over the territory once trod by these same Cossacks and not far from Repin's birthplace, the painting carries a new level of meaning.

While the trend dates back to 2014, when Russia first began claiming Ukrainian territory, the most famous and awarded recreation thus far was created and organized by photographer Emeric Lhuisset (a part of it is shown above next to Repin's original). The central figure, holding a walkie-talkie in place of Repin's scribe, is none other than Roman Hrybov, the Ukrainian border guard made famous by dismissing a Russian warship with an expression that wouldn't be out of place in the Cossacks' legendary message. (That warship, the Black Sea flagship, was later sunk, by the way.)

While Lhuisset's photo is meticulous and professional, others seem more spontaneous, done on the spur of the moment by frontline soldiers. They may gather around battle maps or ammo boxes, wearing camo and carrying rocket launchers, but all sport the same brash, devil-may-care defiance encapsulated in Repin's original. See a small collection here.