RED CROSS | N Ø V I

THE IRISH RED CROSS

#UKRAINIAN_ACTION

#FIGHTING_WORDS

#IRISH_RED_CROSS

50.4504° N, 30.5245° E

THE BRIEF

Fighting Words

The Red Cross invited us to reframe how displacement linked to the war in Ukraine is understood. The focus was on women who had fled their homes and were rebuilding their lives across Europe. The work needed to centre individual experience within a vast humanitarian crisis, creating storytelling that restored dignity, agency and presence to lives too often reduced to numbers.

Project Scope

A photography-led storytelling concept documenting displacement

Narrative structure and editorial framework grounded in lived experience

Public exhibition design, including book production and spatial installations

Digital-ready imagery and narrative assets for campaigns and media use

Collaboration and delivery across NGOs and partner organisations

Framework Building

Together, we produced:

A visual storytelling system aligned with the Red Cross mission and values
Portraiture and narrative that balance emotional depth with restraint and respect
Communication tools enabling partners to engage audiences beyond crisis imagery
A scalable body of work adaptable for exhibitions, books, digital and editorial platforms
A multi-channel deployment approach designed for public engagement and longevity

Insight

The work was shaped through close collaboration with displaced women supported by the Red Cross and partner organisations. By working through portraiture and first-person narrative, we focused on resilience, adaptation and identity rather than trauma alone. This proximity ensured the storytelling reflected complexity and humanity, resisting simplified or extractive representations of displacement.

Impact

The project resulted in a public-facing body of work that combined humanitarian urgency with editorial strength and personal dignity. By shifting the focus from statistics to lived experience, the work expanded how displacement is communicated to public audiences and stakeholders. The Red Cross now holds a coherent, adaptable storytelling framework that supports exhibitions, campaigns and long-term engagement around forced migration.