"Silent Witnesses": French artist restores war-damaged Ukrainian items with metal from Russian missiles

French artist Alexandre Henri has created a series of sculptures that reimagine furniture and objects salvaged from war-torn regions of Ukraine, restoring lost or damaged pieces with metal recovered from Russian missiles.

Henri created the Light Into Darkness project over two years, traveling around Ukraine with the Dutch Civilian Action (DCA), an NGO that provides assistance to civilians on the front lines. In 2023, the artist was invited to document the work of volunteers, but the experience he saw on site transformed his creative approach, write Dezeen.

Photo: Alexandre Henry

“When the full-scale invasion began, I thought about the role of art in such a conflict and the impact it could have. I also remembered the importance of documentary materials from the Second World War, which have become part of our collective memory,” says Henri.

Photo: Alexandre Henry

After traveling through Izyum, Kharkiv, and Kherson, the artist spent three months in Kyiv, working in a studio on sculptures inspired by his encounters with Ukrainians. He admits that what struck him most was their resilience: people remained in their homes and continued to live under the threat of constant shelling.

"These people have an obvious fragility related to the trauma they have experienced, but at the same time an extraordinary dignity and determination. This greatly influenced how I wanted to present them through my work," he says.

Photo: Alexandre Henry

In the villages of Eastern Ukraine, Henri saw that destroyed things became “silent witnesses” to events.

“These artifacts resemble portraits—they bear the visible and invisible scars of civilians who survived the war,” the artist explains.

Photo: Alexandre Henry

The dozen or so objects he collected—fragments of furniture, damaged doors, window frames—were either found at the site of the explosions or donated by locals with their stories. Henri also collected demilitarized shell casings and fragments of Russian missiles, which Ukrainian foundries helped melt down into “prostheses” to rebuild the sites.

“The metal that destroyed now restores — it is a metaphor for Ukrainian families rebuilding themselves after the war,” the artist emphasizes.

Photo: Alexandre Henry

The project was first presented at Dutch Design Week 2025, where it exhibited:

two wooden dining cabinets restored with cast aluminum parts;
doors with explosive marks, mounted on copper "legs" cast from shell casings;
two window frames integrated into the Walls Remember installation along with portraits of Ukrainians printed on fragments of destroyed walls.

After the exhibition, Henri received offers from several institutions interested in showcasing the project. He plans to return to Ukraine in the near future to create new works in collaboration with people who have suffered physical injuries, expanding the symbolism of “prosthetics.”

"This project is a reflection on memory, resilience, and reconstruction. Each restored object is a trace, a wound, and a symbol of collective endurance. Art here does not explain war, but gives a response—it allows us to feel its presence," the artist concluded.

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