KO SASAKI PHOTO EXHIBITION “XEPCOH – Kherson: On Nights of Falling Missiles” November 15 – 30, 2025
Reminders Photography Stronghold is pleased to present a solo exhibition by Ko Sasaki, “XEPCOH – Kherson: On Nights of Falling Missiles.”
This exhibition marks the publication of Sasaki’s new photobook, ХЕРСОН — Kherson: On Nights of Falling Missiles, based on his 126-day stay in southern Ukraine during the summer of 2022, under Russian invasion.
Through his time spent with both civilians and soldiers, Sasaki quietly documented the fragile boundary between daily life and war. Rather than images of destruction or violence, the work captures traces of human life—prayers, laughter, sleep, and conversations. It resists being reduced to familiar tropes of war photography, instead preserving moments that defy easy naming or categorization.
The project originated with the crowdfunding initiative “126 Days in Wartime Ukraine”, and was later further developed through Sasaki’s participation in the PHOTOBOOK MASTERCLASS at Reminders Photography Stronghold in 2023.
Sasaki’s gaze remains simply present—reflecting a reality in which war lies just beyond the rhythms of daily life. And in doing so, it quietly reminds us that this reality may not be as distant from our own lives as it seems.
We invite you to visit the exhibition and spend time with the quiet intensity of this work.
©︎Ko Sasaki / XEPCOH – Kherson: On Nights of Falling Missiles
“XEPCOH – Kherson: On Nights of Falling Missiles”
“Like a terrible dream.”
That was how my friend Andrii described it, in a chat during one of those nights when missiles were falling.
By the summer of 2022—six months into Russia’s full-scale invasion—missiles were striking southern Ukraine almost every night.
Suffering arrived like a random lottery—without warning, without logic. Unless you were close to the blast, you might not even realize it had happened. The unreality of it all made me wonder if somewhere, a parallel world still existed where things remained as they should be.
On Independence Day in August, air raid sirens could barely be heard over the sound of children shouting as they jumped into the river at the center of town. Families sat along the riverbank, basking in the summer sun.
A few days later, a shopkeeper told me how a missile attack the previous night had destroyed buildings and set cars on fire. The noise and the emergency response had made it impossible to sleep. I vaguely recalled hearing something during the night.
I went to see the Soviet-style apartment building that had been hit. Residents were cleaning up. Among them was a boy I had photographed earlier that week, wrapped in a Ukrainian flag by the river. Now he was carrying boxes of belongings down the stairs with a few others. When our eyes met, I gestured to ask if I could follow. He shook his head with a tired look and turned back up the stairs.
Not long after, I was introduced by a friend to a group of volunteer fighters, made up of former soldiers. After several outings with them, I was accepted and ended up spending about two months sharing their daily lives. That summer, Ukraine had begun a counteroffensive in the south, with the goal of reclaiming Kherson Oblast.
Roughly 30 kilometers from the town where we stayed stretched the so-called “zero line”—a contested strip between Ukrainian and Russian forces. Another 30 kilometers beyond that lay the Russian-occupied city of Kherson.
One day, in a village near the zero line, soldiers fired mortars toward Russian positions. Moments later, the Russians returned fire. We dove into a nearby basement. As the shells exploded overhead, a soldier passed the time watching car videos on Instagram. Each impact filled the space with dust. He flinched for a moment, then turned back to his phone.
In a ruined village further from the front line, another soldier chatted with a woman he had met on a dating app, lying on a makeshift bed in a bombed-out basement. “I’m looking forward to seeing her when I go back to the city on Sunday,” he said. While waiting to take his turn on watch, he drifted off to sleep.
This book is not a chronicle of destruction, nor an accusation. It’s a record of people—eating, laughing, sleeping, crying, fighting, praying, fleeing, being born, dying—people no different from us.
Why does such horror happen in a place that looks so much like paradise?
This is a story about how war exists just beyond the horizon of daily life.
Text by Ko Sasaki
Ko Sasaki Photo Exhibition
“XEPCOH – Kherson: On Nights of Falling Missiles”
◎ Dates
[Tokyo] November 15 (Sat) – 30 (Sun), 2025
Open daily 13:00–19:00 / Admission free
◎ Opening Reception & Artist Talk
[Tokyo] November 15 (Sat) from around 2:00 PM
Please note that the reception and artist talk will begin at 2:00 PM.
◎ Venue
[Tokyo] Reminders Photography Stronghold Gallery
Address: 2-38-5 Higashimukojima, Sumida-ku, Tokyo, 131-0032
(6-minute walk from Tobu Skytree Line “Hikifune” Station,
5-minute walk from Keisei Line “Keisei Hikifune” Station)
Now Available: Ko Sasaki’s Photobook “XEPCOH – Kherson: On Nights of Falling Missiles”
https://reminders-project.org/en/xepcohkhersononnightsoffallingmissilessaleen/
©︎Ko Sasaki / XEPCOH – Kherson: On Nights of Falling Missiles
©︎Ko Sasaki / XEPCOH – Kherson: On Nights of Falling Missiles
©︎Ko Sasaki / XEPCOH – Kherson: On Nights of Falling Missiles
©︎Ko Sasaki / XEPCOH – Kherson: On Nights of Falling Missiles
©︎Ko Sasaki / XEPCOH – Kherson: On Nights of Falling Missiles
©︎Ko Sasaki / XEPCOH – Kherson: On Nights of Falling Missiles
©︎Ko Sasaki / XEPCOH – Kherson: On Nights of Falling Missiles
©︎Ko Sasaki / XEPCOH – Kherson: On Nights of Falling Missiles
©︎Ko Sasaki / XEPCOH – Kherson: On Nights of Falling Missiles
©︎Ko Sasaki / XEPCOH – Kherson: On Nights of Falling Missiles
©︎Ko Sasaki / XEPCOH – Kherson: On Nights of Falling Missiles
©︎Ko Sasaki / XEPCOH – Kherson: On Nights of Falling Missiles
©︎Ko Sasaki / XEPCOH – Kherson: On Nights of Falling Missiles
©︎Ko Sasaki / XEPCOH – Kherson: On Nights of Falling Missiles
©︎Ko Sasaki / XEPCOH – Kherson: On Nights of Falling Missiles
©︎Ko Sasaki / XEPCOH – Kherson: On Nights of Falling Missiles
©︎Ko Sasaki / XEPCOH – Kherson: On Nights of Falling Missiles
©︎Ko Sasaki / XEPCOH – Kherson: On Nights of Falling Missiles
Profile｜Ko Sasaki
Ko Sasaki is a photojournalist born in 1972. Since the late 1990s, he has documented social and political unrest across Asia and the Middle East, including Cambodia following the death of Pol Pot, riots in Indonesia, guerrilla movements in the Philippines, and the beginning of the Second Intifada in Palestine.
In 2004, he became a founding photo editor for Courrier Japon at Kodansha, while continuing to work as a freelance photographer. His work has appeared in The New York Times, Forbes, Financial Times, The Washington Post, Stern, TIME, and other international media outlets.