“It is a high-profile event for us,” “we feel as if we were a living part of great Ukraine,” “you heal souls and bring home senses…” It is with these sentiments, fascination, and great satisfaction that city residents met the opening of the Den Photo Exhibit at Pryluky’s community center. Braving the rainy and cool weather in the morning, more than a hundred people came not just to see and enjoy beauty but to recall and, what is more, analyze Ukraine’s milestones in the past year. The sun came out as the exhibit was being opened. A nice day indeed…
“It is a feast for us, a feast of history, which the newspaper Den bestowed on Pryluky residents. Traveling across the cities of Ukraine for 17 years, it presents us with the moments that make history and show our life from inside, and we are very glad that this exhibit has come to our city too,” Tetiana FESENKO, Deputy Mayor for Humanitarian Affairs, said at the opening ceremony. “The authorities and all residents of Pryluky are very grateful to the editorial board for a unique opportunity to enjoy, together with the entire Ukraine, such a wonderful exhibit. I think that everyone who will visit the exhibition hall before March 12 will not only find esthetic satisfaction (for photography is one of the unique genres of visual arts), but also have an opportunity to feel a special moment which is sometimes even difficult to express with a word or a paintbrush. Looking at us today are the eyes of ordinary Ukrainians – boys, youths, girls, adult men and women – who are making our history through daily work and feelings so that our descendants know the life and pain of Ukraine and take this history lesson every day. I am calling on Pryluky residents to take part in the photo competition and subscribe to Den, for it is a unique newspaper which keeps us all abreast with time.”
Fesenko also wished Den to devote a Route No. 1 to Plyluky, for it deserves this. Indeed, his beautiful city can boast of a millennium-long history – since the times of Kyivan Rus’ (Pereiaslav Principality, if you remember). Local residents are very proud of this, although they emphasize in private that pro-Russian sentiments are rather widespread here (the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, and some politicians of the independence period have done their bit). And although they are in the minority, former Regionnaires “are rearing their head.” At least, there are attempts of this kind. But patriots, true Ukrainians, prevail, which inspires optimism. So if the city finds partners who are ready to support implementing Ms. Fesenko’s initiative, Den will do it with pleasure.
Still topical is the statement of Den’s editor-in-chief: “Province is not a geographical notion.” We speak on this subject to Artem ANISHCHENKO, director of the Pryluky Community Center, chairman of the NGO Art Theme Association. He says the city is trying to live an active cultural life. Anishchenko says he is concurrently, by his heart’s call, the director of several festivals. “For example, our biggest project is ‘MRIY-DIM, an all-Ukrainian festival of theatrical art, thanks to which Pryluky won recognition not only in Ukraine, but also abroad – in Poland and Georgia. We are thus trying to follow contemporary trends in culture and not to lag behind big cities. Indeed, there can be a province in human brains, not in geography,” our interlocutor says convincingly.
It is very important when Den’s initiatives and projects receive support, all the more so in small cities, although our newspaper always emphasizes – in such “little big” cities. The UK-based company British-American Tobacco Ukraine is the partner of Den’s Days in Pryluky. As part of the campaign “Gift the Den Library to the School You Went to,” the Charitable Foundation for Promoting Den’s Initiatives in partnership with the company has handed over our publications to 16 educational institutions and six libraries in the city and made it possible for them and the Pryluky enterprises and media to subscribe to the newspaper.
“We are pleased and honored to be the partner of such an important and necessary event,” said Yurii Rylach, chief of the company’s department for contacts with governmental bodies, during the presentation. “It is the most authoritative and profoundly analytical newspaper which, in spite of all the difficulties we are coming across, attaches importance to this kind of projects.” Yurii told The Day that he had first read this newspaper when he was still a student. “There was no analytical press as such at the time. For example, I can remember articles by academician and philosopher Serhii Krymsky, which it was very interesting to read. And, naturally, later, when you began to launch book projects, it was always a pleasure for me to get acquainted with them,” he said.
Let us get back to speaking with Anishchenko, who shares his impressions about the photo exhibit. “Undoubtedly, I saw a diverse Ukraine and its history – with later developments in contemporary culture and politics,” the Pryluky Community Center director says. “To my satisfaction, it is a multi-genre exhibit. Some pictures, like, for example, Beside a Friend’s Grave, strike a chord with you, they captivate and grip you, and other… Of course, there are a lot of war photos which can’t help touching you on the raw. I also liked other photos – true to life, witty, funny, with a subtle sense of humor. For example, The Scooter Princess is a combination of traditions and up-to-date technologies. Incidentally, what I liked the most is Build-up, a very symbolic work. The Den’s Photo Exhibit can leave nobody indifferent, and everyone can find a favorite theme, a picture he or she likes. I can see the extent to which your photo exhibit grips Pryluky residents and causes them to ponder over things. Even as the exhibit was being mounted, our staff was making inquiries about, analyzing, and discussing it. You are doing a great deal of informative work, and people appreciate it.”
It will be recalled that Den’s team first “landed” in Pryluky as many as 13 years ago. Ihor Pavliuchenko, editor of the culturological journal Pryluky. Fortetsia, showed us Ukraine Incognita, the first Den’s Library book dated May 13, 2004, and signed by Den’s editor-in-chief Larysa Ivshyna. “It’s a rarity,” he said.
“The theme of war particularly astonishes and stings,” Ihor Pavliuchenko says, sharing his impressions of the photo exhibit. “Beside a Friend’s Grave is a symbol of today’s tragedy in our country. On the other hand, it is a guarantee of peace here, where there is no war. I would call this photo exhibit ‘War and Peace.’ Naturally, Pryluky residents duly appreciated the quality and content of photographs. I’m pinning special hopes on youth, and it is important that they were impressed with these photo stories which remained etched on their memory. For example, it is no secret that politicians and the grassroots live different kinds of life. I want things in life to be the way they are at this exhibit – politicians must stand next to ordinary people, in the same way as photos are arranged at this exposition. And it is very important that the people who assume responsibility for the state should visit photo exhibitions like this to see themselves and the surrounding world. Today, it is very hard for people because of a difficult economic situation, and an event like your photo exhibition fills the void in human souls. It plays a compensatory role in terms of esthetics and sense. You can see on these pictures not only a tragedy, but also the prospect of what and who we are building this country for.”
Pavliuchenko points to some boys who are lively discussing the exhibit with youthful ardor and rapture. They are the fruit of patriotic upbringing by the Zinchenko young couple. We approach the children. “I am in raptures over the photograph Full Steam Ahead,” says the nine-year-old Stas Derkach from local school No. 6. “The impression is that the swan is running on the water with its wings bent and leaves behind a very nice wake. The photos of the military are striking – I can feel how hard it is for them there…”
“And I liked the photographs The Puzzle, The Frame of War, The Point Is Not in the Bones, and Beside a Friend’s Grave. The latter makes my heart ache. Russia is an enemy that attacked us. And we must defend Ukraine and repulse them. We are sure to win,” the 11-year-old Pavlo Shynkarenko from school No. 2 says, sharing his impressions.
His peer Danylo Yemirov, 10, from High School No. 5 also singles out the photo The Point Is Not in the Bones and adds: “Our country is in dire straits today, and when I see some photos, I naturally sympathize with the people depicted there. I am even ready to give away all my money to influence in some way or to stop this war.”
Conversely, the six-year-old Ivan Hovilei, who does not yet go to school, runs up and says: “I like all the photographs.” Then he ran away.
“We have brought children here so they can see real history, study, emulate, and value what is their own,” says Maria Zinchenko, representative of the NGO Pryluky Ivan Sirko Cossack Kuren, a specialist in patriotic education at the Pryluky driving school of the Ukraine Defense Promotion Society, a volunteer at the NGO ATO Participants Shield. “The photo exhibit made a lasting impression on me. I work in the field of patriotic education, and this subject is close to me. We in Pryluky have already organized the photo exhibit ‘Hardened in Battle,’ but you have, naturally, professional pictures, and it is not only patriotic, but also national education. This exhibit cannot help but impress – tragedy, patriotism, culture, politics…”
“It’s a very interesting photo exhibit, a lot of true-to-life moments,” says Roman Zinchenko, kuren otaman at the Pryluky Ivan Sirko Cossack Kuren, head of a detached unit at the youth club Dzhura, ATO veteran. “Frankly speaking, I don’t quite like it that there is a lot of politics the quality of which we are very well aware of… Yet, it is the reality of our life. It is important that there are social photos, such as Too Few Workers and Too Many Idlers, of course, war pictures – The Frame of War or Stylist that show crippled soldiers. Looking at these pictures, people understand that it is not always romantic, for people are shot at, wounded, and killed there. I feel keenly about this war. In essence, we were not prepared for it. Take, for example, Cossack organizations – there are dozens of them, we have 36 hetmans, but they failed to form at least one volunteer battalion. I myself belong to a Cossack organization, but I immediately volunteered to the Armed Forces. And today I work with children, for this country’s destiny depends on how we bring them up. This photo exhibit is important not only to Pryluky, it should also tour all the cities of Ukraine.”
Then the meeting gradually switched to a debate, ‘National Dialog,’ with this writer who, incidentally, is a compiler of the book “The Trap,” or A Case without a Statute of Limitations. The Den’s Library books were presented during this debate. Read in detail about this in the newspaper’s next issues. Pryluky residents really astonished us with their level, interestedness, and, what is more, the wish to learn and improve themselves. But this applies not only to Pryluky residents. A group of students specially came from Chernihiv to see the photo exhibition and communicate with Den’s representatives. In a word, there will be more things to discuss.
The Den’s Photo Exhibit in Pryluky will remain open at the City Community Center (30, Koptieva St.) from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. Admission is free.
