#1 “Ivan”
Before the war, Ivan worked as a service engineer and also ran a small cargo transport business.
In 2023, he volunteered for the Armed Forces of Ukraine in Mykolaiv.
He served in the Kherson direction, as well as in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.
On the night of September 4, 2024, during a combat mission, his vehicle hit a landmine.
His childhood friend was killed instantly. Ivan lost one of his arms.
After applying tourniquets himself, he walked nearly three kilometers under shelling to reach a safe zone.
He was later evacuated and received emergency medical care in Sloviansk, then Dnipro and Kyiv.
In April 2025, Ivan arrived at the Superhumans center, where he underwent prosthetic rehabilitation.
He is currently looking for work — open to both civilian and military roles.”
His approach to photography runs through many of the projects represented in this collection. Freckles celebrates the seemingly endless variety of freckled faces, while Vitiligo brings together people from around the world living with the skin condition. His CMN project, created in collaboration with Caring Matters Now, photographed people with congenital melanocytic nevi, a type of birthmark that can sometimes cover large areas of the body. Scars, meanwhile, brings together subjects whose scars have very different origins and personal meanings. Other bodies of work, including Skin and Humankind, broaden that exploration even further. What connects them is that Elbank’s photographs are not simply studies of unusual physical characteristics. The people in front of his camera arrive with their own histories, relationships with their appearance, insecurities, confidence, and reasons for wanting to be photographed.
#2 “Ruslana”
After the injury, Ruslana went through a difficult period, depression, despair, and a loss of identity. However, following prosthetics and rehabilitation at the Superhumans Center, she realized that she could return to a full and active life.
She began sharing her journey publicly and soon launched a blog that now has over 132,000 followers. Through it, Ruslana shows that life after amputation does not end, it simply changes.
With her prosthetic, she has already tried almost everything: she has completed a 5km run, taken up climbing, wake surfing, and even surfing.
Today, Ruslana inspires wounded Ukrainians, especially women, who are walking their own path of acceptance and recovery. A few months after receiving her prosthesis, she joined the Superhumans team, where she now works as part of the communications department and serves as an ambassador for the Center.”
That distinction becomes particularly important when looking at some of his more recent work. In 2025, Elbank traveled to the Superhumans Center in Lviv, Ukraine, where he photographed soldiers and civilians who had sustained life-changing injuries. The center provides surgery, prosthetics, and rehabilitation, while Elbank’s portraits focus on the individuals living through those experiences rather than defining them solely by their injuries.
#4 “Valentyna”
Hailing from Sievierodonetsk, Luhansk region. Before the full-scale invasion, she worked as a baker - she made bread. On May 20, 2022, she was seriously injured during a Russian shelling. At the moment of impact, Valentyna was preparing lunch at an outdoor kitchen. She sustained severe injuries: facial trauma, a traumatic brain injury, and the loss of an eye.
She received first aid on site and was evacuated first to Lysychansk and Bakhmut, and later to Dnipro. Eventually, she came to the Superhumans Center, where she underwent several surgeries as part of a joint Ukrainian-French facial reconstruction mission. Valentyna still has several surgeries ahead of her.
Despite everything she has been through, she remains incredibly optimistic and full of life. During her recovery, she has participated in numerous photo and video projects aimed at supporting and inspiring others who have suffered severe facial injuries as a result of the war.”
#5 “Eddie”
Since the Autumn of 2022, he has worked to provide humanitarian support to civilians living in some of the hardest hit areas of the frontline. His work includes providing food, water and medical aid to cut off towns, infrastructure projects such as repairing war damaged buildings and cleaning and improving evacuation routes, and evacuating civilians from cities experiencing active fighting. On the 30/1/25 Eddie and his team lead Plylp from @base_ua_ngo were working in the city of Pokrovsk in Donbas. As they were exiting the city on their second evacuation of the day, and with two civilians onboard, their clearly marked humanitarian vehicle was targeted by a Russian FPV drone. The attack took Eddie’s left arm and leg, with the rest of the passengers receiving non life threatening injuries. Plylp’s quick thinking and professionalism in applying multiple tourniquets and coordinating the casevac saved his life. After the initial trauma surgery in Dobropillya Eddie was transferred to Kyiv where he spent 6 weeks undergoing 15+ surgeries to manage the wounds and help fight the infection. After closing he was transferred to Superhumans where he began his rehabilitation journey. Following months of challenging work, he was released back into the wild with a new leg, and at the same time became a member of the Superhumans team, as an ambassador, promoting their work, his story, and the Ukrainian story, in the English speaking world, raising awareness for the courage and bravery of Ukrainians. He’s also been able to return to sailing, competing in the European Parasailing Championships in Norway in August. He is making the most of the second chance his teammates gave him.”
We first asked Elbank what inspired him to turn his attention toward homelessness and begin developing this particular project.
“As with all my work, it’s humanity that does the inspiring. The view of a single person walking down the street and their appearance is enough to ‘trigger’ something inside me to embark on diving into their world, to learn more, understand the subject more, and present my version of how I see them.
We are all surrounded by unique individuals with phenomenal journeys that need to be told, to celebrate the subject and educate the viewer...”
#6 “Oleg”
He served in the south, took part in the liberation of Beryslav, and later fought in the battles for Soledar and Bakhmut. In June 2023, while en route to frontline positions near Kostyantynivka, his vehicle was struck by an enemy ATGM. He sustained severe shrapnel injuries, deep burns, and lost an eye. Despite this, he managed to administer first aid to himself and walk nearly a kilometer to reach his comrades.
Oleg’s face was disfigured beyond recognition. At the Vinnytsia Regional Burn Center, he underwent skin grafting with artificial skin and had the first shrapnel fragments removed. The next stage of care took place at Superhumans, where surgeons performed orbital reconstruction, fitted an ocular implant, corrected the lower eyelid, and carried out procedures to restore facial aesthetics.
Throughout his treatment and rehabilitation, Oleg was supported by his wife - they’re now climbing again together. He jokes that he’s become a “one-eyed climber” and dreams of creating an inclusive team of veteran climbers, building his own climbing gym, and helping others reconnect with life through sport.”
#7 “Yevhen”
In 2022, following the start of the full-scale invasion, he volunteered for military service. Yevhen has combat experience dating back to 2016–2017, when he fought on the Luhansk frontline.
During the full-scale war, he carried out combat missions in the Zaporizhzhia, Luhansk, and Donetsk regions.
Amid active fighting, he sustained a shrapnel wound to the neck. After receiving medical treatment, he returned to the front line. On October 6, 2024, during an attack in Donetsk Oblast, Yevhen suffered burns covering approximately 20% of his body. He was forced to evacuate through flames. He was first taken to a stabilization point, then transferred to an intensive care unit in Dnipro, and later to St. Luke’s Hospital in Lviv for further treatment. In May, Yevhen ended up at the Superhumans Center, where doctors began rehabilitation focused on his hands - the area most severely affected by the burns. A complex surgery was performed by a team of Ukrainian and British surgeons, involving partial skin grafting to restore mobility in his fingers on the left hand. The procedure was successful, and he has begun to regain movement. Another operation is planned on the right hand to improve function.
After completing treatment and rehabilitation, Yevhen plans to return to military service.”
Having photographed hundreds of people for projects such as Freckles, Vitiligo, CMN, and Scars, we were curious what continues to draw Elbank toward people who stand out from the crowd and their experiences.
“I’m fascinated with finding those who may stand out and those who often struggle with that. We are all, as humans, vulnerable in so many aspects; through the media, many from my previous works don’t fit the narrative of what is deemed to be what society strives for.
Though in my eyes these people are exceptional and simply why I want to document”
We also wanted to know what Elbank looks for once someone is actually standing in front of his camera, beyond the physical characteristics that may have initially caught his attention.
“That’s a great question! I’ve documented over 700 people, from over 60 countries over this past 15 years or so. All ages and ethnic backgrounds, different cultures and appearances, and it’s an absolute pleasure to do so; you learn so much about humanity simply by listening and observing their personal journey.
I’m always looking to show that person (how I see them) how incredible I think they are. I have to learn, watch their mannerisms, see their strengths and weaknesses. I study their movements and their faces to find that angle, that look that presents what I see in them. All I’m interested in is their opinion of the image we’ve created; their approval is paramount.”
After spending so much time photographing people and hearing deeply personal stories, we wondered whether those experiences had changed Elbank’s own understanding of beauty.
“No. I’ve always found beauty to be universal, unique, and in those who don’t conform to what society classes as beauty. Of course I can look at those who fit that mold and appreciate their looks, though they saturate the pages and magazine stands. The interesting appearances of those who I document need to be documented; they need a visual representation to just show how incredible we all are.”
Finally, we asked what he is currently working on and where the homelessness project may eventually lead.
“Another good question for me that is! I’m working on Homeless, and it’s a very personal project for me. After COVID-19, the number of people on the streets in London was off the charts, so in late 2024 I embarked on learning how those people survive by documenting my day-to-day from my car, through winter, to simply understand their circumstances and daily challenges.
I’m on the road around Britain documenting people who have at one time been homeless, slept rough, in an abandoned house, on someone’s sofa, under a bridge, in their car, etc, to educate people that anyone can end up on the street through no fault of their own. So I am reaching out to people who are passionate about sharing their experiences to show those on the street that there is a way back from rock bottom, that there is hope, and that even when life seems impossible, there is an inner strength to get back to whatever a normal life is...
I’m touring Britain and basing myself in my car to experience it firsthand, to live it and to understand it. Homelessness needs to be vanquished, and I look to document 101 portraits to share their experiences in an exhibition I aim to show in Liverpool once completed...”
#17 “Shanks”
#19 “Elizabeth Soffe A.k.a. Miss Cheeky Pants”
Description: “Older, Wiser and Cheekier Elizabeth Soffe aka Miss Cheeky Pants made her way with @sineadsoffe down the M40 to visit for a new series for Scars. We spent the day eating ice cream, pizza, bouncing on the trampoline with Olive, cutting my mum’s hair off and these photos. (MCP) has had several surgeries since last week worked together with more in October on her hands with the aim to separate her fingers. I ask Sinéad for an update so here goes. Since her photo shoot Elizabeth has been busy. Last year when she found out Birmingham Children's Hospital didn't have the funds for a laser machine to treat scars she decided to take things in hand. Approaching the problem with her characteristic enthusiasm she ran a marathon one mile a day. By the end she had raised an amazing £215,000. This meant she could fully fund the machine and also donate to several other charities. For her huge achievement she was named BCH xxx and also received a Pride of Birmingham Award. Since her photos were taken she has also had two operations to release her scars and to use the laser machine she funded. But Elizabeth's plans don't stop there, she is determined to continue fundraising, possibly something to do with roller skates. Shooting Miss Cheeky Pants is like working no one else I’ve ever met before MCP’s confidence and easy manner is simply infectious and when you get a Brockolli ‘Love You’ it’s special. Everything is done with a smile and we could take a leaf out of this kid’s book.”
