LUTSK — Den/The Day has launched the tour of its photo exhibit around Ukraine in Lutsk – for a reason. Volyn National University is one of the newspaper’s partners and is distanced from the capital only geographically. The university community here lives by the principle “strive for the best.” That is the reason why The Day’s photo exhibit is here for the fourth time. After the Lviv Book Fair this is the second place where a new book from the newspaper’s library series has been presented to the reading audience. Some 500 students from several leading departments were waiting for an open lecture by the Ukraine’s ex-prime minister, General Yevhen Marchuk. The university has recently established a nice tradition of inviting Ukraine’s most notable professionals to give public lectures.
In addition to university students and professors, The Day’s cultural events were attended by many other residents of Volyn: there were people involved in different fields of activity, from state officials to the citizens of villages and small cities. These are the people who do not want to be provincial, and therefore they read and think.
The rector of Volyn National University professor, Ihor Kotsan, introduced Larysa Ivshyna to the audience. However, it was a mere formality, because Ivshyna hails from Volyn and is well-known in this region. In her opening speech, Den’s editor in chief addressed the “big family of Volyn.” Volyn has always been a region with a strong national spirit and a longing for Ukraine’s statehood. The comfortable university library hall could not seat all those who were interested, and many students patiently stood throughout the presentation. The entire discussion was centered on the following topics: national identity, threats to the present state of Ukraine, and the responsibility of the national elite, which is supposed to be a unification force.
“I can remember one of the photos from the last photo exhibit. It showed a religious procession of the so-called Moscow Patriarchate. People were carrying portraits of Nicholas II, Stalin, and others. The caption read: ‘Also Ukrainians’,” recalled Leonid KONDRATYK, dean of the Institute of Social Sciences. “The events organized by The Day aim at cultivating a feeling in Ukrainians that we have to actually live together and build our own state. The newspaper’s mission is to facilitate the formation of civil society. This is a broad concept, so I will emphasize only one aspect. Civil society is, above all, its sovereign and thinking citizens who do not just cast their votes but make their choices and who have their own opinions and national pride. I think that this is what The Day is aiming at.”
Petro HOTSALIUK, deputy mayor of Lutsk:
“This is my first time to visit this photo exhibit, but I will surely come again every time you make a presentation in the future. I have seen many different museums, from the Hermitage Museum to the Louvre Museum, and dozens of art exhibitions. But I simply did not know that the art as photography could be so touching and instructive. The Day’s photo exhibit is, in my opinion, is a reflection of national idea, something that gathers many people in one place. Ukraine has a great need of such events that would unite us.”
Andriy MAZUR, Pavlo DENDERA, first-year students, Department of Mathematics, Volyn National University:
“We were late for the beginning of the presentation because we had classes, but our fellow students came here straight from lectures, because we had heard from other students about the great photos exhibited here. We have run out of free space on our cell phones, trying to take pictures of the best photos here. We especially liked the photos from the series ‘The World through Children’s Eyes,’ because they are of the same age as we are. Their views and their choice of the themes appeal to us more.”
Taras LITKOVETS, political analyst, lecturer, Department of Political Science, Volyn National University; political reviewer, radio station Lutsk:
“The Day is without any doubt one of the most professional newspapers in Ukraine. Not every newspaper comes out daily in two languages and on top of it has a weekly English digest. It is a mirror of Ukraine for the foreigners, and at the same time, the newspaper is nationally oriented. It has become a habit recently among people to see only negative things around them. The exhibit proves that things are still not that bad at our home. The exhibit’s and the newspaper’s main goal is, in my opinion, to unite Ukrainians into a political nation, and it does it better than real politics and real politicians.”
Lesia SHVAB, assistant professor, Department for the Recent and Modern History of Foreign Countries, Volyn National University:
“I am amazed. I am looking at these photos and it feels so good inside. It is the first emotion that evokes a feeling. Our people are very beautiful and wise. It is a great pity that we do not always see them the way they are presented at The Day’s photo exhibits. These people and Ukraine have a future. Thanks God we have it and can see it.”
