Through a virtual reality headset, Nelson viewers find themselves standing in a 360 panoramic view of a Ukrainian city. The surrounding VR landscape has neighbourhoods, buildings, schools, museums, streets, and apartment buildings.
The peaceful street view can be seen by pressing the "before" button.
Click "after," and the viewer lands in the same spot but with the streets piled with fallen concrete, the apartment buildings still standing but with the fronts blown off, the public buildings reduced to mangled metal.
The viewer can choose similar before-and-after views in a number of neighbourhoods in different Ukrainian cities. The panoramas intentionally do not show dead or wounded bodies.
Users navigate these scenes in Google Street View, with which creator Mykola Omelchenko got his footage. Omelchenko had several VR headsets set up at the exhibit War Up Close on May 10 at Finley's Bar and Grill in Nelson.
Omelchenko, from Ukraine but now based in Knoxville, Kentucky, said that as a photographer and videographer in Ukraine he has worked extensively with Google Street View.
"When the war started, I wanted to use my abilities to create something that no one ever does. We created the first-ever virtual museum and virtual experience with the war."
Omelchenko says seeing the aftermath of war in this way is more effective than watching it on television because of the 360-degree panoramic view. He says this makes the accuracy of the depiction "undeniable."
Viewers can examine the scene at their own pace. They can be alone with it and reflect.
Also on display was Unissued Diplomas, a series of large placards telling the stories of Ukrainian students who were killed in the war before they were able to graduate. This a part of the Maple Hope Foundation's project entitled Heal a Mother's Heart, which supports the mental health of grieving women in Ukraine.
"Like all young people they had dreams and plans and they were working hard on their studies," said Olga Hallborg of Castlegar, who brought the exhibit to Nelson and around the Kootenays. "But now their pictures and stories raise awareness around the world about atrocities in this war and how we need to bring peace and justice to Ukraine."
Two other projects were also represented at the exhibit.
Children's art work was shown by the Ukraine-based Sunflower Dreams project, which supports a children's art therapy program that helps children affected by war to tell their stories through art.
Also present was the group Sustain Ukraine, which fundraises for educational, medical projects and tactical gear.
