Hands that smell like bread
I first heard these words from my grandmother. This is how she spoke — with deep respect — about people who work in the
fields. That childhood memory became the title of my project, because today, these words resonate more than ever.
This is a story about people whose love for the land proved stronger than fear. About a small but unbreakable family farm, Zolotyi
Kolos (“Golden Ear”), operating on the very edge of unconquered Mykolaiv. It is led by a young woman — Nadiia Ivanova — who
has become a pillar of support for nearly a hundred workers and their families.
When the full-scale invasion began, their fields came under daily shelling. For nearly a year, they lived and worked under constant
threat — until the Ukrainian Armed Forces liberated Kherson. But Zolotyi Kolos did not stop its work for even a single day.
Yet this project is not only about the agricultural business. It’s a story of quiet, everyday heroism that often goes unnoticed.
About how tractor drivers help the military, how freshly demined fields are immediately sown with wheat, and how ordinary
warehouses are turned into humanitarian hubs.
After numerous missile strikes, the Zolotyi Kolos team rebuilt what was destroyed with their own hands and continued their
work.
Why am I telling this story? Because behind every grand battle stands the daily, titanic labor. The labor of people who hold tightly
to their land — and even under the roar of explosions continue to grow bread, to feed and defend Ukraine.
Artem Humilevskyi