The text at hand is a picture essay titled “Ultranationalism in Ukraine” published in The Guardian April 2019. The pictures were taken by the Brasilian photographer Felipe Dana who is known for his aim to educate his audience through images of social and political disparities. In this text, Dana focused on the uprising of rebel groups in Ukraine; nationalists groups are structured and trained with the will to overthrow their pro-Russian government and establish a new order, this order includes discrimination against women and harasses LGBTQ+ members. So, to what extent does the photographer portray this nationalistic culture of modern rebel groups in Ukraine?
The pictures strengthen the feeling of unity and community. Men, women and children are gathering together for a cause they all support, a new power structure for their country. They are portrayed as if they were ready to fight alongside each other to achieve this goal. This community is supported by a strong education of the children and youth of the rebel groups. They are born into the shared ideologies and brought up with military training and curriculums customised to the beliefs of their community. Being part of a community with ultranationalistic beliefs shapes the identity of its members, although they stand firm together, individuals feel isolated, and the probability of members questioning this ideology increases. Their leaders determine the identity of the members, and they must behave in an ordered way, this power structure comes close to a dictatorship.

The community of the rebel group is portrayed through several pictures in the picture essay, especially the 7th picture titled “Nationalists rally to mark Defender of Ukraine Day in Kiev”. The photographer used frame within a frame to emphasise the military-behaving group in the middle from the people standing around them but to also distance the rebel group from the ordinary people. Although it looks like the public is supporting them, the disconnection occurs through disbelieves and uncertainty of the strengths and values of the group.
The group in the centre and focus of the pictures is positioned in a square, comparing the different psychological effects of shapes the square is said to be reliable as well as suggesting stability and order. However, order and stability are being disturbed by the photographers perspective, instead of taking the picture from the front to strengthen their position, he took it from the side which shows the imperfection of the shape. Although the community is standing strong together, as seen by the public, taking a different look at the group, there are flaws within the group. This goes along with the birds-eye angle of the picture, the viewer is looking down on them, decreasing their wanted strength and power position. There are holes visible throughout the rows questioning how close this community could genuinely be.
Community is shown as an essential part of the culture of the rebel group, however, by taking a closer look imperfection and disconnection within the group and with the public shown by the imperfect shape and members missing in the rebel group itself.

The disconnection within the community has a substantial impact on the identities of its members. Picture 10 of the essay titled “A former soldier and member of the National Corps party warms himself next to a bonfire near Kiev” offers a more in-depth insight into the individual members. The singular focus of the picture on the fire and man as well as the extreme long shot showing the increased amount of negative black space in the background visualises the isolation. Although fire symbolises warmth and connection him standing there alone suggests the feeling of fear and unsettlement. The photographer shows the uncertainty of the strengths of individuals and their troubled belief in the power structure of the group. The leaders of the rebel group are concerned with the collective without paying attention to the individuals being left in the dark, with sometimes only a little source of light.
The leaders determine the most significant parts of the identity and behaviours of the members through the strong dictatorial leadership; this leads to the isolation and disconnection towards the group, and the members own identities.

The rebel group tries to strengthen their community by starting their training and education at a very young age. The second picture titled “Children with rifles attend a summer camp organised by the nationalist Svoboda party in a village near Ternopil” describes the training of these children. In such summer camps, the young children experience various training sessions, one shown in the picture. Every child is shown with a rifle, the rule of thrids suggests the main focus of the picture is a big rifle in the middle of the picture casually held in the hands of one participant. Although rifles and other weapons are highly dangerous and powerful tools, those young children hold them with a blanc expression, this concludes back to the questionable shaping of identity through their education. Dana shot the picture at the eye level of the children, which allows them on the same respect level as the audience. Their community treats them as adults and trusts them with dangerous guns leading to the audience respecting their position. However, looking at the facial expressions of the children, they look very innocent if not bored while being educated about the rebel groups ideologies and values contrasting with their staged position.
Education is used as a force to strengthen the community by allowing children to be part of this movement. This leads to a strong influence in their identity and their actions, working in a highly dangerous environment gets normal for them.

The culture of modern rebel groups in Ukraine is based around their community, identity and education as a force to strengthen their community. Felipe Dana portrays this culture through selected pictures of parts of the group showing their stable community, however, not leaving out the weaknesses of their system. These weaknesses can be found when he visualises the identity of the group members, although they belong to a powerful group they still feel isolated and disconnected shown by pictures focused on individual members standing in the dark or other visual barriers. The group is trying to work against their weaknesses by recruiting children into summer camps, educating them on the use of weapons and other areas. With portraying children on the same level as the viewer and giving them the power from the angle, the photographer describes the early manipulation in their identity.

Nationalistic groups are on the rise in the whole of Europe trying to establish their power structure. The number of groups increased after the start of the event referred to as the “refugee crisis” where thousands of North African and citizens of the Middle East were fleeing to Europe. Nowadays, those groups have formed political parties which have gained so much support that they are represented in nearly every national government in Europe. Most of the groups established the same culture. Community and the sense of unity are strengthened through their belief in the same ideologies and values, most of which are struck by racist and discriminating ideas. Together they fight for what they believe in, the manipulation of the individuals’ identity might follow the same scheme as in the example of the ukraine. Through support from all possible age groups as well as children of families believing in these values, the community gets stronger until they have a place in government. It is unlikely for the nationalistic groups to decrease any time soon due to the major unsatisfaction of the people with the current governments but with the right restrictions and act the state’s government will be able to prevent significant complications.