About 500 visitors – this is the statistics of photography connoisseurs that come every day to get acquainted with the works presented at the 18th International Photo Exhibition Den-2016 in Sumy.
The exhibition of the best 140 photographs from the past year’s contest will be held in Sumy City Gallery through February 5. Some guests visiting the exhibition have characterized it as “a warm one.” Since the opening of the display, the Gallery’s guestbook has been constantly updated with grateful records: “No words can describe the feeling...”, “I liked the exhibition, the photos are realistic...”
Many visitors were fascinated by the photograph, which rightly won the audience award in Kyiv: Beside a Friend’s Grave by Anastasia Ivanova. The ATO soldiers that came to the display did not hide their feelings in front of this one.
Each photograph has its own vision, and by looking at them one too begins to think in new ways, the visitors say. For example, Anton Dubodielov, employee of the Sumy Art Museum, shared his impressions: “The pictures are epic. Very impressive is the one that depicts a soldier with a child. Maybe that’s why it is felt in such a special way here in Sumy oblast – we have no war here, but the war is very close...” Oleksandr Petrenko, engineer, said: “I immediately noticed the photo of Yatseniuk with the image of Yulia Tymoshenko on the background. The photo is called Unification. Then I remembered that time. I don’t know whether to call it unification or a merger...”
Oleksandr Lysenko, Mayor of Sumy, responded after seeing the display: “I have not seen an exhibition like this one that would in such a way thematically present the life of our country over the past year. These works were created with love and are truly patriotic. We will continue to invite Den’s Photo Exhibition to our city. Moreover, we will ensure that our library system is subscribed to this newspaper. The presence of such publications as Den is a sign in itself that the country is democratic...”
And more visitors’ impressions to follow...
“THE EXHIBITION HELPS TO FOCUS”
Oleksandr KHORUZHENKO, director, Sumy Regional Centre for the Development of Local Governance:
“Den’s Photo Exhibition, the 140 selected photos of Ukraine’s Family Album, helps to focus and concentrate on the most important things in the continuous chaos of the modern information world, which many have failed to grasp since the end of 2013. Everything that happened to us in this period of time has been an influx of events, which we see as facts, but do not understand what is happening. A person easily gets under the pressure of a seeming objectivity, and then lingers in the darkness of fake information. How can one survive? How to distinguish the value of virtual content? I have long seen the ‘content’ as the value. The value is the new meanings – I am annoyed by repetition, I am avoiding this information influx. Quality content is a professional interpretation of facts. The professional interpretation of the facts is journalism, analytics and more. It’s complicated, it takes much time and money. But this is the essence of Den. I am fascinated by the sheer scope of work that God has destined us to do at our home. It seems that heavenly forces are recruiting for this gruesome job in the East and the West. And only now are we beginning to understand it. We are beginning to behave like adults. All odds are laid out before us like playing cards. To survive, we need to be decentralized, militarized, and secure in regards to information. This is my agenda. And as far as I can see, it is the same agenda of my life’s partner – newspaper Den.”
“I LIKED THE PHOTO VICIOUS CIRCLE THE MOST”
Volodymyr SADIVNYCHYI, Ph.D. in social communication, assistant professor of journalism and philology, Sumy State University:
“I want to clarify that it is the second photo exhibition of Den in Sumy. The first one took place in 1997 and was held at Sobor Art Center. I like such events. If you want to find out how such events are liked by Sumy citizens and what kind of attention they attract, you should look through the book of reviews in, say, ten days – and then you will be able to make conclusions. Speaking of photos that I liked the most, this is the one that won the Grand Prix of 2012 – Unification. And in regards to 2016 – it is a photograph called Vicious Circle – and this circle is closes by one politician’s cap – a very characteristic one, by the way.”
“DEN’S DAYS FOR FINE TUNING”
Alla YAROVA, deputy director, Research Institute of Business Technologies at Ukrainian Academy of Banking, Sumy State University:
“I am extremely pleased that Sumy has become the second oblast center after Kyiv to host Den’s Days – the readers’ conference with the newspaper’s authors, the exhibition. This is not simply a pleasure, it is a symbolic decision. Sumy is on the border with Russia. To quote Valentyn Torba: we, the border cities, are bordering the Chornobyl reactor. The direct effects are not visible, but the reactor constantly emits radiation and the influence may not always be noticeable. I agree with that. Therefore, the exhibition and the conference-meeting with Den’s leading authors – Ihor Siundiukov and Valentyn Torba – are important because they become the instrument for fine tuning. A lot of different opinions and assessments of the situation are being run lately, and people often start to get confused. The newspaper Den has a very precise, calibrated position: it is such on the current situation in Ukraine, on the Ukraine-Russia relations, on Ukraine’s relations with other countries, for example Bulgaria, as we see in the book My Sister Sofia... So for me it is like a tuning fork. We got acquainted with a truthful and established position, which should be taken as an example, and which gives firm ground for assessing the rest of the facts. As far as I’ve seen, all the participants of the meeting with Den’s authors liked it very much, their spirits lifted. The students who attended the meeting, said afterwards: ‘This meeting encourages us to become regular readers and supporters of Den!’
Den’s Photo Exhibition is held at Sumy City Gallery (27 Soborna St.) through February 5, open from 11:00 to 19:00. Closed on Mondays. The entrance is free. Note that the visitors are voting to determine the Audience Award winner in Sumy. In addition, the books from Den’s Library can be bought at the exhibition.
