The romantic tradition of “contemplating ruins” is a metaphor for reflection, representing the very process of cultural formation. This fascination with post-industrial grandeur generates fantasies that do not aim to build one’s own culture but rather to distance oneself from the post-socialist or post-industrial “Other.” The term “ruin porn,” coined by writer and photographer James D. Griffioen, initially described tourists’ tendency to photograph Detroit. They focused excessively on the city’s ruins, ignoring the issues faced by its residents, including Griffioen himself. Originally used to describe Detroit, this term is now applied to vast archives of (post-)apocalyptic decay, widely represented in stock photography worldwide.

An exceptional interest in “ruin porn” can be observed in Eastern Europe, notably through the popularity of the Chernobyl Exclusion Zone and Ukraine in general. This interaction presupposes hierarchical relationships, where the photographer’s exploitative gaze satisfies the voyeuristic desires of viewers removed from the context of depicted places. Jamie Rann, in a 2014 article published in The Calvert Journal, highlighted the ethical issues of the post-socialist fetish: “Such works are rightly criticized for trivializing, aestheticizing, and dehumanizing the city, portraying architectural form as bare and stripped of humanity, just as pornography objectifies the body.”

This aesthetic can also be seen in Ehrlich’s project. However, unlike photographers who capture the apocalyptic world for the satisfaction of others, Dmytro uses architectural elements and photographic techniques to create art pieces, stripping places of human presence for his own artistic fulfillment. His subdued and trusting tone, his ability to find drama in seemingly simple life circumstances, and his calm, even somewhat detached narrative voice convey the artist’s internal dissatisfaction with the fate that society has predetermined.