Soldiers of the 112th Brigade of the Territorial Defense Forces of Ukraine and French photographer Emeric Louisset recreated the famous painting by Ukrainian artist Ilya Repin "Cossacks Writing a Letter to the Turkish Sultan" in modern conditions.

The artist posted his work on his Instagram page.

Emeric Louis draws parallels between the current war waged by Ukrainian soldiers in the face of Russian aggression and the battles of the Zaporozhian Cossacks who opposed the Ottoman Empire in the 17th century.

The author called his work "From afar, I hear the answer of the Cossacks" and expressed special gratitude to all Ukrainian soldiers for participating in the photo shoot.

Painting by Ilya Repin and modern photo by Emeric Louis / Photo from social networks

In the caption to the photo, he stressed that in Europe there is mostly a consensus to condemn the war of aggression waged by Russia, but, according to him, a "much more insidious war" is unfolding around control over history and culture, which remains generally unknown to Europeans.

"Culture is a weapon on a great battlefield, let's not forget that," the French artist urges.

Who Is Emeric Louis

Emeric Louis was born in 1983 and grew up in the suburbs of Paris. He calls himself a visual artist whose work is an artistic transcription of geopolitical analysis. In addition to being a photographer, Louisse also teaches at the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris and hosts a series of conferences on contemporary art and geopolitics.

As a photographer, Luisse combines geopolitics with art, raising questions about the representation of conflicts. Such creative projects have taken him to Syria, Afghanistan, Colombia and Iraq and Ukraine.

In 2014, his book "Maidan – One Hundred Portraits" was published, which captures the faces of those who joined the resistance to the Yanukovych regime and went to Euromaidan.

In March 2022, he returned to Ukraine to create a new series "Ukraine — 100 Hidden Faces".

Earlier, British street artist Banksy confirmed that he had created seven murals in different places in Ukraine, including Kyiv, Irpin and Borodyanka.