From 17 February to 5 April 2026, in the exhibition room of the Bibliotheca Albertina, open daily from 10 am to 6 pm, Thursday to Sunday from 6 pm to 9 pm, free admission

This double exhibition combines two photographic perspectives on Russia's war against Ukraine: an exhibition from Ukraine and a Leipzig-based photo project about Ukrainians who have found refuge here. Together, they offer a poignant look at coming of age in a state of emergency and continuing life after fleeing. 
Coming of Age Amidst War, curated by Irynka Hromotska (Kyiv Independent), shows works by ten Ukrainian photographers who document how young people in Ukraine shape their everyday lives amid bombardment, loss, and constant uncertainty. The images are both testimonies of vulnerability and powerful self-assertion. Ukrainian Portraits, photographed by Sophie Meuresch and curated by the German-American Institute Saxony, focuses on Ukrainians in Leipzig. The exhibition brings together portraits of the same people from two different points in time: photographs from 2022, shortly after their flight, and new photographs from 2025, showing how their lives have developed three years later. They tell of new opportunities, ongoing challenges, and the traces of war that remain despite a newfound home.

Taken together, the exhibition creates a dialogue between there and here: between youth in war and everyday life in exile, between the reality in Ukraine and the lives of those who have made Leipzig their home. The exhibition shows how people from a broken world are shaping their future.

The exhibition at Leipzig University Library was created in cooperation with the German-American Institute Saxony, America House Lviv, and Kyiv Independent. It was made possible by funding from the state of Saxony and the German Foreign Office.