Ukrainian servicemen are standing near a large portrait of a woman. They are smiling and talking. Red poppy decorations, a symbol of war victims, as well as various awards they received after battles, are pinned to their uniforms. A woman in the portrait is looking at us, at the passengers and these young men who seem careless. Her eyes show power and sadness. She is Valentyna Zavada, the mother of the Hero of Ukraine Bohdan Zavada. Her son was awarded the title of hero posthumously, because in summer 2014 he was killed in a battle in the Donbas.
On May 8, the exhibit “The Mothers of Heroes” was launched near the National Museum of History of Ukraine of the Period of the World War II. May 8, the Day of Memory and Reconciliation, quite symbolically coincided with Mother’s Day this year. The exposition displays a total of 16 photos taken by well-known photographer Roman Nikolaiev. Every shot is a portrait of a woman who raised a hero. Some of them lost their children because of the war. And Maria Savchenko, whose portrait is also present at the exhibition, has been waiting for her daughter Nadia from virtually Russian captivity covered by a nonsensical trial for two years. But the mothers do not hold grudge against the destiny. Their calling is to love.
“SOMETIMES WE HAD TO EXPLAIN WHY IT IS NEEDED”
“Mothers are humble. Half of my heroes are villagers. The son said, ‘You must,’ the mother replied, ‘Aye-aye,’ and that is all. This is their military order,” Roman Nikolaiev recalls his work on the project. “Since the beginning of the war in Ukraine I have been taking portraits of military people and somehow have learned to get along with such people. Therefore I did not have any problems with getting a contact with any person. We managed to take photos of everyone we had planned to capture.”
The organizers of the project worked in pressed time: the idea of the exhibit appeared in the 20th numbers of April. This is a kind of a continuation of the project “16,” which was presented a year ago at the gallery Second Floor Art Center at the Presidential Administration. It displayed 16 portraits of heroic Ukrainians who became famous during their service in the anti-terrorist operation in the Donbas. Those portraits were taken by Nikolaiev too. Some of the women whose portraits are on display at the exhibit “The Mothers of Heroes” are the mothers of those heroes.
During the work on the new project Nikolaiev especially liked to work with the mother of the commander of the Ukrainian Airmobile Forces Major-General Mykhailo Zabrodsky. “I very much like Mykhailo Zabrodsky as a serviceman. I have already met him, but have never had an opportunity to take his photos before. He is not a ‘fat general.’ He was awarded the title for his achievements in the Ukrainian eastern front. And all commanders of battalions I have talked too spoke highly of him. They say they would go to any faraway lands with him,” Nikolaiev explains. “And his mother is very intelligent, she is a university teacher. It was the easiest to work with her. She understood the purpose of this project and that it helps Ukraine to fight in the information war. For sometimes you have to explain to people why it is needed.”
“LOVE TO YOUR FAMILY IS CONNECTED WITH UPMOST VALUES”
The images of mothers of heroes unite many things that psychologists call basic and eternal, social psychologist Vadym Vasiutynsky emphasizes. “Firstly, this is actually the image of a mother. I don’t think that Ukrainians are an exception, but this image is very rich emotionally and it is essential for all peoples. And this image is especially strong in traditional societies, like ours has been until recently. Another important thing is the image of a defender,” Vasiutynsky comments. “The combination of these two components, mother’s love and the personality of a defending warrior, who owing to this love grows and turns into a strong person, has always been attractive, both for men and women.”
Today the image of a hero who risks his life for the sake of his motherland has become incredibly topical. But the images of wives and mother who mourn over the dead need not just attention and compassion, but also a certain level of contemplation. It is important to show them, not just for observation, but also to create a certain discourse.
“The plots which are connected with the manifestations of love to family, when it refers to the military or their mothers, are often shown in the media. This is a thing that touches, concerns, and worries almost everyone. The mutual love of children and parents is one of the strongest feelings. What are we fighting for, if not for that? Surely, not for gas, money, and oil,” Vasiutynsky goes on. “I am speaking about the values which we consider the most important. Everyday life offers other things, material and political values. But if we dig deeper, we can see the basic deep needs connected with the upmost values. The plots that appeal to them draw the attention, and this is right.”
The image of mother reconciles and unites people. We admire those who raised a hero. For the strength of the warrior could have grown from the love his mother had invested in him. And then the mother has to take a desperate step – trust her child to the destiny, because the life of a warrior is dangerous and unexpected. But mothers love, make their sacrifice, and wait. They are ordinary women, not spoiled by attention. They need to be in the focus. We must look up to them.
