Lviv – The Day’s days in Lviv are not over yet, so quite a few residents and tourists are coming every day to the Palace of Arts. The Day’s Photo Exhibit Den 2014 is open on the third floor. As you gaze at more than 150 photos, you realize that it is not moments that are captured, but a great length of time: conclusions made and ignored, lessons of history learned and skipped, and our victories and defeats from times immemorial to this day.
HOW TO MAKE SHOTS WITH ZEST
To find out what the visitors of The Day’s Photo Exhibit see in the photos, The Day’s correspondent set out to the Palace of Arts on a Sunday morning.
The room is quite full. The silence is occasionally broken by the clicking of heels and shuffling of soles, and sometimes by careful whispers. On the table lie Ukraine Incognita. Top 25, The Apocrypha of Klara Hudzyk and Power of the Soft Sign, which a lady in a black blouse is looking through.
“Oh! There’s a girl I know, and this is me, at the side!” Bohdan is almost yelling with excitement. He is studying a photo Time to Unite together with a girlfriend.
Bohdan Ustyianovsky, student of Taras Shevchenko University in Kyiv, has come to Lviv for a brief vacation. “Firstly, I see my friends there,” says he laughing. “Such elation and unity. Friendship between citizens, but first of all, between people. As I see some photos, I ask myself: why weren’t you there? Although, I lived through the entire Maidan. Remembering those emotions gives me goosebumps.”
The young man says he did not expect to see his flag, with himself a couple of meters behind.
“This is my flag, it’s six meters long. How cool is that, coming to Lviv and seeing it!” Bohdan is really impressed. It was the march in embroidered shirts, he has been taking part in it for several years in a row. “I have almost a dozen embroidered shirts, and I wear them whenever I like, not only on a holiday. I love them. I look at this photo and feel elation and pride for my country,” shares the boy and adds sadly: “However, it has become a fad. Some people are such snobs.”
In the room you can see people of all ages and from all walks of life. This photo exhibit has brought them together. New visitors keep pouring in. Andrii Bisyk, engineer and amateur photographer, has come here with his wife.
“I can see the modernity. This exhibit is absolutely different than those I saw as a child,” says Bisyk with a laugh. “I have very nice impressions. Look, over there, a boy from Vasylkiv is riding a sunflower like a hobby horse? He gives joy. Meanwhile, those freaks behind me (Yanukovych and Putin) inspire unpleasant feelings. I looked at the photos in order to grasp how you should make shots with a plot, zest, and sense.”
In the middle of the room, on a table, stands a box, almost filled with notes. In such a way the visitors vote for the best photograph. Next to the box is The Day’s guest book, halfway full. “Dear Larysa, I was unable to pick the best photo, for some 20 of them brought tears to my eyes! Thank you for all you are doing for Ukraine. Sincerely, Andrii Pushnariov, National Union of Artists.”
“Those who assaulted us did a bad thing. Glory to Ukraine! Glory to Heroes! Also, thanks to my grandmother Alla Shushkevych for teaching me to make the motanka doll!” These are the scribblings of Anna Lutska, 9, decorated with smileys and hearts. “Thank you for the great works. Their truthfulness is impressive. When you are overcome by doubts, you must come and look at these photos, to never betray our defenders and always support them,” wrote a lady from Lviv whose name is hard to make out.
“This is such a truthful cross-section of Ukrainian life. That is why it [the exhibit. – Ed.] is so loaded with emotions. The photos with the troops are impressive,” shares Zoriana Bilyk, deputy director for development of museums at the Lviv Museum of History and Religion, who came with her husband and children.
“This is just a sacral photo, Onions,” points Bilyk to the photo of an old woman. “In my opinion, this is a symbol of Ukraine’s perseverance. We will have it all: onions, land, wise women, strong men, with whom we all will gain our liberty.” She muses for a short while, head down. “Each Ukrainian family carries a huge scar from Russia’s predatory, colonial policy, from which we have suffered for centuries. Now the true Ukraine is rising to her feet,” summarizes Bilyk.
“THE EXHIBIT MAKES YOU COME TO YOUR SENSES”
“Can you see the boy sitting in a dugout? He’s writing something. Maybe he was a student, or even a writer.” Iryna is explaining photos to her little son Roman. “The boy. See his bike? It is all singed, yet the boy is playing with it. Who knows if his parents are still alive. You have it all, you must appreciate it.”
They come up to another picture. In it, a little boy is peeking from behind a green garage door, bored with bullets.
“And we do not know if he still has parents,” says Iryna.
Little Roman is curious. He keeps asking questions about the pictures. “And who is this? And this?”
“And this is the president of Russia.”
“This one?” the little finger points at a photo of Yanukovych. The mother smiles back: “No, this one. And this one is to blame for all the killings.”
And such families are many. Outside the entrance to the palace there is a little children’s concert: the little ones are singing and dancing. Most of them, together with parents who see the adverts of the exhibition, come inside.
“I must have moved in the wrong direction, because I’m finishing with the bloodbath and portrait of Yanukovych. What a nasty feeling,” shares Alina Hudzovska, multimedia designer, whom I walked into at the far end of the walk. “I think it would be better to finish at the other side, with something positive,” says she pointing to the opposite side. “It all stirs so many emotions.”
During the revolution the girl worked not far from the epicenter of the events, so she could see it all with her own eyes. “I like the dynamic character of this photo exhibit. Actually, each picture conceals something. Like this girl on roller skates, or the photo of toys. A photo of little boys with toy missiles struck me. At first glance, an absolutely ordinary photo, but then you ask yourself, ‘What is he holding? Where did he get this? What is going on?’ It makes you come to your senses,” says Hudzovska. She stares at the photos in front of us: “Here in Lviv, we are sort of having a quiet life, but there, in the east, people are living their own lives. Different lives. And there are children there, too. It is for a reason that The Day made this exhibit. On my way here, I was already prepared to see some story. And so I have.”
The photo exhibit is open on the third floor of the Palace of Arts (17 Kopernyka Street). The exposition is open through May 10, admission is free from 11 a.m. till 6 p.m. And please remember to vote for the best photo!
