Twitter storm erupts over Ukrainian president's Vogue photoshoot with Annie Leibovitz

A Twitter storm over a Vogue photo shoot of the Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky and First Lady Olena Zelenska has highlighted the power and pitfalls of wartime images following Russia’s 24 February invasion of Ukraine.The digital cover featuring Zelenska and additional portraits of her against dramatic backdrops and with her husband were shot by the celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz, who travelled to Kyiv for the project. In the accompanying interview, the writer Rachel Donadio charts the development of Zelenska into a diplomat representing Ukraine as it staves off Russia’s assault. Donadio describes how Zelenska used shocking photographs to drive home the tragedy of the war when addressing the US Congress in a bid for more military support.“She showed pictures of Ukrainian children who had been killed by Russian rockets, including a four-year-old with Down syndrome, before amping it up,” writes Donadio. “‘I’m asking for something I would never want to ask for: I am asking for weapons—weapons that would not be used to wage a war on somebody else’s land but to protect one’s home and the right to wake up alive in that home.’”In a Facebook post, the art historian Diana Klochko, compared Leibovitz’s cover image of Zelenska, who…
Read More