Ukrainian Wartime Posters as a Tool of Participatory Propaganda During the Russian Invasion of Ukraine
- Elżbieta Olzacka
Abstract
Drawing inspiration from the Ukrainian poster boom during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, this article explores the role of war-related posters in today’s world, where printed media is no longer dominant, and images can travel across different media platforms. The example of wartime Ukraine shows that the poster remains an essential tool of wartime propaganda, promoting patriotic and proactive attitudes and encouraging action to support the war effort, while experiencing substantial changes in its form and means of dissemination. Analyzing various types of grassroots and institutional initiatives related to creating and disseminating war-related posters in Ukrainian offline and online public spaces made it possible to focus on two issues: firstly, how online media facilitate the creation and distribution of posters in offline formats and allow them to transcend the traditional printed form; and secondly, how posters become a convenient tool of participatory propaganda, involving various state and non-state actors in their production and dissemination.
Keywords
wartime posters, war art, participartive propaganda, Ukraine, Russia-Ukraine war
Author Biography
Elżbieta Olzacka
Dr. Elżbieta Olzacka is an Assistant Professor at the Centre for Comparative Studies of Civilisations, Jagiellonian University, Krakow, Poland. She has received Master’s degrees in Sociology (2007) and Russian Studies (2011) and a Ph.D. in Sociology (2014) from Jagiellonian University. Her interests include theories of war and conflict from sociological, anthropological, and cultural studies perspectives. From 2014 to 2016, she conducted a research project financed by the Polish National Science Center dedicated to the cultural context of the civil war in the Republic of Tajikistan. Her current research includes Ukrainian cultural mobilization and cultural policy in the context of the Russian invasion of Ukraine.