The Lavra Municipal Art Gallery of Kyiv was particularly crowded on October 26, even at about 8 p.m., when the exhibition was declared closed and the traditional vote count for the Audience Award started. In fact, it were the last visitors to the exhibition who got to determine what photos impressed the audience most over the entire nine-day duration of the event, as well as to take part in the traditional Den’s prize draw.
As we learned early in the count, most leading works were optimistic in their content. As we heard from the visitors themselves, this indicates that people are tired of the problems and believe in the peaceful life that will soon prevail in the country. Thus, the audience liked most pictures by Den’s photographers Mykola Tymchenko (Farewell) and Artem Slipachuk (Mariupol), and Father’s Courage, taken by Den’s contributor and 2+2 TV channel cameraman Ivan Liubysh-Kirdei. Other winners were Roman Vilensky’s A Freckled Girl, Maksym Liukov’s Human Warmth and Aliona Stepanenko’s Smiley. In fact, Liukov’s work won the Audience Award by a small margin at Den’s Photo Exhibition 2014. It depicts a Euromaidan protester with a puppy in his arms. The second place went to Stepanenko’s optimistic and cheerful photo Smiley, while Vilensky’s A Freckled Girl came third.
“I am grateful to Den for choosing my work for exhibition. This is a major victory for me in itself. The fact that the photo got wide support from the audience comes as an added incentive to work more,” Stepanenko said on winning an Audience Award. She was present in person on the exhibition’s closing day. “People vote for optimistic works because the country has been experiencing great tension for a year. As people would like to believe that all will be well, they, maybe subconsciously, support photos picturing kids. More generally, Den’s exhibition was full of optimistic photos, particularly those picturing smiling children. This, of course, makes adults smile too.”
After the announcement of winners and presentation of the Audience Awards, another intriguing secret of the exhibition was revealed, as the audience learned the name of the lucky owner of Serhii Kharchenko’s work Callsign Sokil (Artur Stepanenko), which, let us recall, won Den’s Golden Award this year and was put up for a charity sale by this newspaper. Thus, the new owner of the picture is director of Aquavita company Tetiana Yurkova. She offered… 15,000 hryvnias for the photo! We thank her for her contribution to a charitable cause, as we will transfer all proceeds of the sale to Starobilsk Freedom NGO for the needs of Ukrainian soldiers and directly to Artur Stepanenko. Unfortunately, a business trip prevented the new owner of the photo from coming to the exhibition’s closing ceremony, but the work will be presented to Yurkova soon at this newspaper’s editorial office (it will be covered in upcoming issues of Den).
By the way, Den, as usual, took care to present prizes to last visitors to the photo exhibition as well, holding a prize draw on the closing day of the event. In particular, Iryna Loktieva won the draw and received photo album People of the Maidan. A Chronicle, while Hennadii Kholodov got book Ukraine Incognita. TOP 25 as the second-placed participant of the draw, and Olha Volodymyrovska came third, getting an issue of Route No. 1 magazine, called Den’s Photos and dedicated to the exhibition. In addition, the winners of the prize draw involving last visitors received a free annual subscription to Den.
...It was nine days of unique emotions and experiences, and a photo exhibition on an unprecedented scale: the competition’s jury received more than 2,000 photos this year, of which 350 were selected for the exhibition of the best works; they were taken by professionals and amateurs, and submitted by 290 authors from all parts of Ukraine. The event presented the unique opportunity for residents and guests of the city to experience Den’s photo style by purchasing photo album People of the Maidan. A Chronicle and glossy supplement Route No. 1 (Den’s Photos issue). It is over now. People from other regions of the country have already invited it to come to them and are waiting for it. Where will the exhibition go? Our readers will find out soon. Follow, please, our newspaper and its online version. As a kind of aftertaste of the capital’s photo aesthetics, dominated by Den this fall, we offer you impressions of the last visitors who, as they themselves admitted, were lucky to take their last chance to see the exhibition.
“DEN’S PHOTO EXHIBITION INDICATES THAT THE UKRAINIANS’ SELF-IDENTIFICATION HAS BEEN FINALIZED”
Iryna LOKTIEVA, winner of the prize draw:
“I am fond of photography and actively follow the events that unfold in Ukraine, and that is why I came to Den’s Photo Exhibition. This is my first such event, and overall impressions are good, as photos are vivid and have interesting political context. When voting for the Audience Award, I supported Tymchenko’s Farewell, which shows a girl seeing her soldier off to the east. It is a very moving picture.
“It happened so that I came to the exhibition on the election day. I have already voted, for I see it as a duty of every responsible citizen. Hopefully, situation in the country will improve after the election, and we will solve our problems, so that next year, Den’s exhibition’s photos will feature a lot of national symbols, patriotism, and optimism, but there will be no horrors of war in them. In general, Den’s Photo Exhibition indicates that the Ukrainians’ self-identification has been finalized, it is the true start of our statehood after 23 years of sleep.”
“THE PHOTOS SHOW OUR COMPATRIOTS, SO DEAR AND CHEERFUL”
Hennadii KHOLODOV, winner of the prize draw:
“I had long planned to visit Den’s Photo Exhibition, but a brief illness forced me to delay the visit to the closing day. New to this event, I found out about it in the newspaper, for I regularly buy Den’s Friday edition. At the exhibition, I liked the Euromaidan’s pictures best: they refreshed my memories and immersed me in the past, because I and my family took an active part in those events. The photos show our compatriots, so dear and cheerful.
“Den’s exhibition is returning our life to normalcy, as we see here that there is more to Ukraine than just the problems and difficulties, and the war in eastern regions. I hope that after the parliamentary election, the promised reforms will finally start, because the Ukrainians have become a responsible and courageous people.”
