The Den/The Day photo exhibition “A New Day: Light and Shadows,” now under way at the Vernadsky Library (Prospekt 40-Ricchia Zhovtnia, Moskovska Square, admission free), was visited the other day by school and college students. It has long been a tradition for students of the Ukrainian Liberal Arts Lyceum to visit such exhibitions, with more and more other educational institutions discovering this world for their alumni every year. Schools have even begun to place such excursions on their curricula, inviting children to use photo exhibits in their scholastic pursuit. College students come here with professional mentors and think that the Den/Day photo exhibitions help them master the secrets of professionalism. What also proves a lively interest in the newspaper’s endeavor are the young visitors’ impressions. We invite our readers to look at the New Day: Light and Shadows exhibition through the eyes of the young and their teachers. The sometimes rapturous and sometimes critical appraisals seem to relate to the exhibited realities of life rather that to the exhibition itself. Some of these scare the young people, who thus try, childishly enough, “not to notice” them. Yet, if they do notice them, they pass wise and unexpectedly-mature judgments to be reckoned with. We think this is this the main achievement of the presented works’ authors.
Ivan BRATUS, Institute of Applied Systems Analysis, KPI National Technical University of Ukraine:
“We are very grateful to the newspaper Den/The Day for holding this exhibition again. A regular reader of this new newspaper, I see all its themes – from politics to art – reflected at the photo exhibition. But, for some reason, there are no works on love. We are young and, despite all the vagaries of our times, want and are able to love. We haven’t forgotten how to feel the beautiful in this hard everyday life.
“Nice is the photo of Kofi Annan feasting his eyes on the Dnieper. The picture makes one think that Ukraine is becoming all the more noticeable in the world and that the beauty of Ukrainian landscapes is also clear and attractive to people of different nationalities, even those living on other continents. The photo exhibition speaks an international mutually-intelligible language. These Den/The Day photos will perhaps be able to present the true picture of Ukraine in the world.”
Vitaly TUROV, director of the project Independent Children’s Media Center “Voice of the Child,” program coordinator of the international organization “Children’s Cultural and Educational Center:”
“I liked the exhibition very much. It is clear that people made a wholehearted effort to create these works. This material is sufficient to publish a Ukraine-2002 presentational catalogue. I want to single out three works. First, ‘The waifs.’ As I personally work on this theme, I can say for sure that this is a fragment of our life, not an acted-out shot. What strikes me is a stilled pain in the kids’ eyes, although waifs always go flaunting their independence and freedom. Our media center children have recently carried out a journalist-style inquiry into the life of waifs: we interviewed them right in sewers and saw precisely what this photo depicts. The second photo exhibit that attracted my attention was ‘Bykovnia.’ An elderly person is sitting with his back to a tree, recalling his life and his friends who died, thus viewing his own lifetime as a the topmost value. The third interesting work is ‘The Budget.’ What a high-skilled master is the photographer who managed to photo the finance minister’s shocked face – an eloquent manifestation of the way he assesses the budget!”
Denis STEPURA, 16, president, Independent Children’s Media Center “Voice of the Child:”
“I once was at the Kyiv Palace of Children and Youth photo society, so it was especially interesting for me to see the exhibition. There is so much humor in the works on this country’s political life. I liked the work ‘Done.’ The photo’s hero is a little man, but his ability to find joy in something very insignificant and the significance of this joy for the photographer psychs you up for a positive assessment of life, which is fine indeed. Other photographs show too much daily routine, the things we all see and can’t break loose from.”
Oksana NESENENKO, 14, Kyiv Children’s Academy of Arts:
“What I like is that many photos reflect human feelings and nature. I feel sorry for the homeless boys but I still don’t understand how one can lead this way of life even under the hardest life situations. I don’t like people addicted to either smoking or drugs. I detest this. Yet, I take interest in humorist works, such as ‘Ivan Kupala’ or ‘The Wind.’ I also drew the wind and I know how difficult it is to depict it (in my drawing I showed a man who sees his newspapers being blown away by the wind). I would like to see more nicely-shot conversation pieces that show human sentiments.”
Olha LABUDA, 14, Kyiv Children’s Academy of Arts:
“When we look at the photos, we feel not only the depicted people but also the personality of the photographer himself. We not only gain a virtual representation of the photo hero but also feel his inner condition. What really strikes a chord with me is ‘Sknyliv’ and a number of Chornobyl disaster photos – the pictures that show tragedy in our life.”
Olena ZVIRYK, 14, Kyiv Children’s Academy of Arts:
“I am visiting this exhibition for the first time, so I’ve discovered the sides of life that I’ve never paid attention to before. Looking at each picture, I see the way the photographers perceive our life, and I wish they also saw something positive in this country. I think one must pay more attention at the surrounding world, at some encouraging moments of life. There is so much beauty around, so does our life only consist of tragedies and disasters, fights and quarrels? Each can find many good and heart-warming things to his/her liking. I liked the photos ‘Done’ and ‘Ivan Kupala.’ The photographed people do not care about the way they look, they just take the pleasures of life.”
Olena BONDAR, deputy provost, Kyiv Children’s Academy of Arts:
“The children jotted down the names of all works they liked, especially the original ones. Those who visited the Den/The Day photo exhibition last year, cheerfully accepted the invitation to visit this year’s show. Unfortunately, we could not bring over all those who wished to come. This exhibition is important for our students, first of all, in terms of their professional development. Our academy’s theater school and fine arts school noted the exhibition’s optimistic energy and good compositions, respectively. The photo’s themes were thoroughly analyzed.”
Kateryna KOVRYK, 16, Kyiv Children’s Academy of Arts:
“When I was looking at the photo ‘Don Quixote,’ I seemed to hear Ukrainian Cossack songs sung. And the picture ‘I haven’t yet played this’ reminded me my first experience with various musical instruments, when I was bursting to try and play them all. I want to draw your attention to the picture ‘Passing the Land Code.’ This may be interesting, but I would not like to see such things in real life.”
Darya AVERCHENKO, 18, 2nd-year student at the journalism school, Kyiv International University:
“I would like the Den/ The Day photo contest to single out students as a separate category. This would give future professionals a unique opportunity to share each other’s experience, for the renowned masters of photo art do not always have the time and interest to mingle with novices. We, students, also find it embarrassing to turn to them. In general, thanks a lot for the exhibition. I liked the quality of photographs, but most of them are depressive in content – I wish there were more optimistic works. Out of the political photos, I liked ‘No More Stakes,’ for it combines staticism and dynamism, while the remaining political photos hardly differ from each other. I wish could see more joyous children and common people. I am interested in artists and actors, in the very process of creativity. I also liked the work ‘Going to Win:’ this picture is about inspiration. Of course, it is important to show resettlers and squatters, but there should be some balance between the sad and joyful moments of life. The exhibition leaves an impression that life in Ukraine is sad rather than optimistic, although I personally believe in a good future and always try to find more positive sides in life.”
Kate BONDAR, 14, Ukrainian Liberal Arts Lyceum, Kyiv Taras Shevchenko National University:
“When you look at some works, you feel funny at first, but when you get the point you are on the point of crying. Take, for example, the photo ‘Nostalgia.’ We are young and it is hard for us to figure out why some still adore Lenin, but then you begin to understand that it is tragic that there still can be people who believe in the Leninist ideals. It is sad to watch deputies fist-fighting when the Land Code is being passed.”
Yevheniya BIRZHAKOVA, Kyiv Children’s Academy of Arts:
“This is my second visit to the Den/The Day photo exhibition. And, again, I’ve gained a positive impression. I would like to single out V. Artiushenko’s photo ‘Bohdan Beniuk.’ It is very important that a photographer should make such a photo image of you that you could see later, in your creative pursuit, that you lie or play insincerely somewhere or, on the contrary, you are so emotional that you fully reincarnate into the role you are playing. It’s very important. When you look at this photograph, you immediately see through a lively creative search. Classy indeed! Old age was the saddest theme for me, so this kind of pictures arouse a respective mood. I remember seeing many photos of this kind at the last year’s exhibition. M. Lazarenko’s photo ‘The Chornobyl Zone. Squatters. Old Woman Kate’ strikes you deep in the heart. You see that there are people around who suffer very much. We grow older with every passing year, there’s no denying this. So we have something to compare. If I were shown some of the last year’s photos, I am sure I would see many new things. For I could not see and understand so much a year ago. When you look at the A. Medzyk’s picture ‘The Mobility Syndrome,’ you immediately imagine a street with a lot of people walking along, each third of them speaking on the mobile phone. This irritates some and makes others laugh. That this was caught by a camera speaks volumes.”
Kateryna BUTSKA, Kyiv Children’s Academy of Arts:
“Too many tragic and politically-motivated photographs. At the last year’s exhibition, I found a photo depicting a little mouse with human feet above. I was searching for something similar, something original, this time. And I found S. Chuzavkov’s photo ‘On-the-Street Couture.’ This photograph seems to be divided in two. These are two lives. One life is difficult – very hard to earn a living – and the other one is the life of a model. I don’t mean models lead an easy life, but we clearly see the way the two women look. The model is wearing nice clothes and makeup, while the worker women are dressed in coarse dark skirts and padded coats. Yet, any trade deserves respect.”
Volodymyr HORPENKO, Dean, Schools of Journalism and Television Art, Kyiv International University:
“The overall impression the exhibition made on me is that humdrumness is sweeping us over. I would single out three works which make you feel that the one who pushed the button felt pain about what he saw. These are M. Lazarenko’s photo ‘Bykovnia,’ then, oddly enough, ‘Lucy’s Museum,’ and V. Artiushenko’s piece about cripples. I also liked the portrait of a veteran – nicely done indeed. I liked them because they are an iceberg. These images conceal a lot of things the heroes have lived through. This is why they call up powerful associations. As to the works showing stilled instants, there seems to be some idea behind... I learned nothing new about both Yushchenko and Yushko. I have seen them like this many times – not so much them, for that matter, as the masque they customarily wear; and if not the mask then the legend they have invented for themselves. The photo exhibition is interesting for its wide scale and crisscrossing viewpoints about the surrounding world. We never have enough time to see it... Even the TV screen, in spite of its kaleidoscopic images, cannot create this impression because it displays a flowing and changing moment, while photos show a stilled moment and give you an opportunity to have a close look. I feel a lot of works were done by true masters. It is not the fault of them, photo artists, that today’s exhibition is humdrum – this is a sign of life. We will drown in shallow waters unless we determine our inner goals and prospects. And the sensation of inner uncertainty runs through this exhibition. This show does not lay claim to giving an overall picture of Ukraine. It is very fragmentary and looks like separate pieces of a mosaic. You see diametrically opposed views here. ‘Bykovnia’ appeals to me the most, although I have never been to a war. The same applies to ‘Lucy’s Museum.’ I see here the danger of fanaticism, be it religious or secular. It is terrible when a human is fanatically blinded by an idea and, besides, is unable to see anything with his own eyes. This is brilliantly expressed in the photo. Or take the cripple on V. Artiushenko’s photograph: I view him as a symbol of Ukraine which will nevertheless overcome all obstacles – not because it is endowed with something supernatural but because the very nature of life will make it sprout, survive, hold out and reach out for the sunshine.”
