On Feb. 4, The Day’s photography show opened at the Rivne Regional Academic Ukrainian Music and Drama Theater. Local photographers Anatolii Mizerny, Oleksandr Kharvat, and Anatolii Pokhyliuk — past winners of our photo contests-had long been planning to organize a show for their Rivne compatriots. Photography shows are held frequently in this city, and it has become fashionable to take in a show or two. The local Art-Cafe, owned by the successful businessman and photographer Oleksandr Kupchynsky, has a permanent gallery where the work of photographers from Ukraine and abroad is displayed “Photo reportage is real. There is no makeup, no adornments,” said Mizerny. “As Volodymyr Vysotsky once said, it is the main nerve of our reality. This is why The Day’s exhibit is so interesting.”
The opening of the show in Rivne was attended by local officials, photographers (both professionals and amateurs), theater managers and actors, journalists from the Rivne-1 and RTB television channels, students attending National Water and Nature Resources University, and ordinary residents of Rivne, who found out about the event from street posters. “Rivne oblast is the home of many talented photographers, who are known both in Ukraine and abroad,” said Svitlana Khomiak, the head of the Culture and Tourism Authority of the Rivne Regional State Administration, “Many important activities have been initiated here, like the opening of the photography exhibit “Volyn during the Feast of Pokrova” and the International photography biennale. But The Day’s exhibit is especially interesting because it displays examples of photojournalism. It attests to the fact that the world around us is so active that every moment something changes in it. And these moments that are recorded on the photos become time witnesses. You look at them, and Lina Kostenko’s verse comes to mind: “...It’s not time that is passing — it is we.”
To the sound of guitar and violin music performed by Andrii Sacheva and Oleksandr Pokotyliuk, the visitor circulated around the exhibit and talked to each other while sipping wine or coffee.
“I was very impressed by the portrait of Maurice Druon,” said artist Oleh Byziuk. “What power! What spirit! Even though political and social issues are reflected very realistically, the exhibit has a positive mood.”
“I evaluated the photo album you published last year. What a high standard! Well done!” said Kupchynsky. “I found six or seven pictures at the show that are not simply good (all the photos are worthy), but highly professional. They are dynamic artistic works with a refined sense of humor. After looking at all the photographs, I feel as though I just returned from a trip around Ukraine.”
“Radio and television often encourage us to live somebody else’s life and follow foreign heroes — Russian or American,” said lawyer Ihor Solimchuk. “ The Day’s exhibit naturally reconstructs our life, the characteristic features of Ukrainians (both positive and negative ones), their vision and sense of the world, and their daily life. The unofficial title of the show could be “About Ukraine with Love.”
The Day’s photography show ends on March 4. Don’t miss it!
