She failed to hold back tears. Tetiana Kulinich (in the photo), an eighth-grader, just gave in to emotions. The photo by Oleh Nych Funeral of Yevhen Sivkov Who Died near Luhansk touched the girl to the quick. Not every adult will probably react to photos in such a strong way: the defense mechanism kicks in. “This man died not in battle, but during the so-called armistice. For what I know, men were reloading ammunition and an accident happened. But in any case, this is casualty, a life lost to war. He was in his late thirties, a father of a big family,” told the author of the photograph.
Unaware of this story, the student felt the pain and grief of a strange family as her own. Her reaction was captured by Den’s photo correspondent when secondary school students from the village of Litky in Kyiv oblast visited Den’s Photo Exhibit. “This photo by Oleh Nych is very moving and touches you to the quick, emotionally it is a really powerful work. I was also moved by a few other photos, and in the competition for the audience award I voted for Father and Sons. It was my first visit to the exhibit, but I liked it a lot, and I am happy I went to Kyiv. I shared my impressions with my classmates, some are even sorry they did not come along. The exhibit was really interesting, there were photos of various styles, so they were perceived differently,” shares Kulinich.
According to history teacher Yaroslav Satskiv, who actually organized the trip to Den’s Photo Exhibit, Kulinich is very emotional and sensitive, so such a response to another’s drama is natural for her: “Her mother teaches Ukrainian language and literature at our school, and her father works at a plant. A usual family, but this is a teacher’s child, she is more comprehending and perceptive. She is thoughtful, trustworthy, has a lot of responsibilities, she does good at school and is a very good kid. Such children catch attention, even the photographer noticed that she stood out.”
Now the students and their teacher are planning another photo excursion to Kyiv. So impressed by the photo stories were the kids that they cried over some photos, touched and caressed others, and compared them to past year’s pictures. It must be said that students from Litky befriended Den more than a year ago, when they visited past year’s exhibit. Later, our newspaper presented the school with 14 photos. The school bought gear for a photo exhibit with the money it got in a grant, and organized a traveling exposition of Den’s photos, visiting six villages and Chernihiv. Satskiv adds that in this way, together with Den, the students improve the school and its image, and thus society itself.
