Eight years have passed since the siege of School № 1 in Beslan. Photographer Oksana Ushko took pictures of some local pupils. They enjoy playing snd painting their faces, but the tragedy will not let them be.
Scroll down to see more
Oksana Ushko
Eight years have passed since the siege of School № 1 in Beslan. 334 dead, 186 of them children — the worst act of terrorism in Russia's history. Photographer Oksana Ushko took pictures of pupils at School № 1 — all of whom are about the same age as the attack. Ordinary children. They enjoy playing, messing around, painting their faces. But the tragedy will not let them be.
Elizaveta Lazarova, 12:
"I'm simply the way I am... Not like anyone else."
Oksana Ushko
Geor Tekhov, 8:
"My name is Spider-Man, I want to be Spider-Man, to save the city, to protect my friends, moms, dads, grandparents... I love being Spider-Man. I've finished.
Oksana Ushko
Totraz Kusov, 12, Valera Sokolov, 12, Soslan Esiev, 12:
My name is Valera. I'm called Toti. And I'm Soslan. I live here... I'm an Ossetian. I'm also an Ossetian. Me too."
Oksana Ushko
Cherman Bichegkuev, 7:
"Ossetia is Russia."
Oksana Ushko
Afina Uzhegova, 8, Elbrus Alibekov, 7, Oleg Dziov, 8:
"We're a team."
Oksana Ushko
David Tomaev, 9:
"Avatar is my favorite movie because..."
Oksana Ushko
Azamat Naifonov, 9:
"My name is Azam. Why did I want to be a skeleton? Because he's terrible... and skinny.
Oksana Ushko
Aisa Kantaeva, 9:
"I love Winx cartoons because there are fairies who do good things. They save everyone and fly really high. And they sing and have beautiful wings and other things. They do it all with magic. They have beautiful dresses and high heels, and also beautiful eyes and eyelashes — everything about them is just beautiful.
Oksana Ushko
David Chedzhemov, 11:
"I'll be a joker... handsome."
Oksana Ushko
Amina Nugzarova, 10:
"I'm a really pretty tigress!"
Oksana Ushko
Khetag Bekuzarov, 11:
"It's a blank page — I don't know will happen next."
Oksana Ushko
Milena Tigieva, 12:
"I wanted a drawing that doesn't exist. There is no such drawing... Because I don't like it when I have a drawing and someone else has the same one."
In the evening the paint is washed off, but these Ossetian children live in a town that can never wash away its memory. Who knows what the three colors of the flag will come to signify when childhood leaves them behind...
