A Georgia lawyer who has spent half of the past year in Ukraine to aid that country in its war against Russia, including taking photos while helping documentary filmmakers, has his images on display in a new art exhibition. "Broken Bridges—Stephen Humphreys in Ukraine," an exhibition of photos by Humphreys, a Birmingham native and Athens resident, opened Friday at the University of Alabama Gallery in Tuscaloosa. It runs through Sept. 15, and a First Friday reception is set for Sept. 1 from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center, during downtown Tuscaloosa's First Friday Art Walk.

Athens attorney Stephen Humphreys has worked with Legion D, Ukrainian military training and intelligence, while in that country. (Photo: Caolan Robertson)

"[I went to Ukraine] for a couple of reasons," he said in a July interview from Ukraine with the Daily Report. "One is when people here ask me why I would come to such a dangerous place, I tell them what's happening in Ukraine is the most important thing happening in the world, and people can't sit by and do nothing. It also relates to the other work I had done, legal work investigating public corruption that had ties to Russian intelligence activities. There's a direct connection between the work I was doing in the United States and in Ukraine." Since arriving in Ukraine more than a year ago, he has done a variety of things in addition to the film productions. Humphreys is teaching two classes (one on the legal history of the civil rights movement at Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv and another on U.S. contract law at the University of the State Fiscal Service of Ukraine in Irpin); establishing a joint program between Ukrainian and U.S. universities; volunteering at a territorial defense training center (where he aids with training for new recruits and special forces); and working on a Russian disinformation study with Christopher Steele at Taras Shevehenko University. He also is involved in civil litigation, and is advising the Ukrainian government on issues regarding the legal issues of seizing Russian assets and sovereign assets due to sovereign immunity, saying that law doesn't protect intentional criminal conduct. According to a news release, the exhibition will include high-resolution digital photographs "documenting the people, cities and landscape of Ukraine as they are now, war-torn yet bonded together and resilient amidst incredible destruction." "We are bringing this exhibition to our community to provide an inside look at Ukraine's plight beyond the headlines," UA Gallery director Daniel White said in the release. "It is a timely and important topic and we are fortunate as a gallery that Stephen Humphreys is directly sharing what he is seeing unfiltered with us." Though Humphreys has practiced law for 25 years in Georgia and Alabama, he's also an art collector and photographer. His collections of Vietnamese and Cuban art have been shown in exhibitions at Troy University, the Alabama Center for the Arts in Decatur and the Alabama School of Fine Arts' Vulcan Materials Gallery in Birmingham. In a Sunday interview from Tuscaloosa, Humphreys said he's "pleased and honored" the gallery is exhibiting his photos. "They have a beautiful gallery to show them in," he said. "I hope they give a lot of exposure so people can see for themselves what's happening in Ukraine." Humphreys said future exhibitions are planned in Huntsville, Alabama, and Athens and possibly also at the two Ukrainian universities where he teaches and in London. "As far as the title, 'Broken Bridges,' a lot of it is documenting the physical destruction of bridges and buildings in Ukraine, but the parallel theme of the exhibition is the damage to society [and] institutions and psychological damage to the people," he said. "The photos in the exhibition also reflect that. That's my personal experience. I worked with those people and teach in universities with no electricity. I have experienced the damage on many levels firsthand." For more information about the exhibition, call 205-345-3038 or visit https://bit.ly/3OJm15O.