We had arranged to talk about the exhibit. I had three questions. But apparently, speaking with Larysa Ivshyna, you cannot pass such themes as self-education, state-building, or shifting perspectives on Ukraine’s society. This is why from time to time we had to deviate – or at least, so it seemed to me during our conversation. However, later I realized that we were speaking about the same single, important, and big thing, and The Day’s photo exhibit is only its part, albeit substantial. The phenomenon exceeds the boundaries of newspaper discussions and the histories on the walls of exhibit rooms. It is the matter of designing a country, as Ms. Ivshyna aptly puts it. “Our newspaper is meant for a nation which is not there yet,” as she has said more than once. And it seems that Oxana Pachlowska said that we will have to evaluate this newspaper’s work in future. Talking with this energetic and active woman I realized that that was no overstatement. Everyone has their burden and their niche.
Do you think society has given enough feedback to The Day’s photo exhibit, if it is still unique in the country? Why, over the 14 years of its existence, there have been no competitors or accompanying projects, which could support your case?
“It seems to me that it is unprecedented due to the perspective we offer: the perspective of the world and, first of all, of Ukraine’s society. There is a sort of ironically-condescending attitude, popular in media circles, among others. Its quintessence is expressed in the joke which I absolutely hate, which goes along the lines ‘like the country, so is the terror attack.’ I know an absolutely different Ukraine. And I want to share this knowledge, which has been growing in me all these years since childhood, and convey it via as many channels as possibly: through our newspaper, books, photo exhibits, or the Summer School of Journalism. The photo exhibit happens to be the most available. This conception found support in many people who believed in the sincerity of our intentions, and have been working with us for 14 years now.
“The photo contest shows just how much incognita our country still is. Each year we still observe the signs of stagnation, sluggishness, depression, or degradation. On the other hand, each year I see a part of our living community (ironic, self-critical, gentle, warm, or just passionate) find new colors even in our twisted world. This is immensely inspirational. Sometimes, after backbreaking preparations for another annual exhibit, both me and our photo editors think, ‘Enough, we have had enough, we cannot take any more of it.’ But when we see how people respond… By the way, last year in two weeks our exhibit was seen by 20,000 visitors. This is an unprecedented cultural phenomenon, an act of self-cognition. Likewise, it is unique that so many of our colleagues from television channels give us prizes, visit us and cover this event. This is the only project enjoying such friendly support.”
So, there still is support?
“It is. This is one case to be openly proud of. When it comes to our books, it is a bit more complicated. This project still needs perfecting. However, there have been others, who also tried to do something like we do. I will not criticize this magazine. I will only say that they lacked something and thus were not able to do everything properly.
“Photo exhibits are the best conductors of journalism. They are great as a means of unification, but it is very hard work. You have to sort and handpick nearly three thousand pictures, appreciate each of them, make sure the post-deadline mail is not overlooked (especially the photographs by our great masters, who can later resent being neglected). But eventually, the game is worth the candle.”
What special treats has The Day prepared for the participants and visitors of this year’s exhibit?
“The treat suggested itself. For years on end we have been exhibiting at the Ukrainian Home, for which we are really deeply grateful. However it so happened that this time around we will have our first museum exhibit. And this is where the treat comes in. Our photo contest has a hallmark, a picture taken by the renowned photo artist Viktor Marushchenko, who used to work as a photojournalist for The Day. I have always loved this picture: an open window, a gust of fresh breeze, a girl rushing in. I would very much like everyone to welcome the experiment, made by our artist Anna Havryliuk according to the lines of contemporary art. Firstly, she ‘cloned’ the girl, now there are multiple images. And secondly, I beg your pardon, some images are turned upside down. At any rate, we are going to exhibit at the Contemporary Art Museum. And I think contemporary art has a very liberal treatment of reality, and we hint that this is our response to the new terms and the new space. But the rest remains as realistic, serious, interesting, and deep as always. Once Lina Kostenko visited our photo exhibits and said they are paintings, not photos. So they do belong in a museum, don’t they?”
One of today’s most influential photo artists, editor of Ukraine’s perhaps one and only Internet photography magazine, Oleksandr Liapin…
“…who, by the way, has also worked with The Day…”
…said that today the photographer should be something like a scientist, who studies, risks, discovers, and offers solutions. However, he believes that in Ukraine such practice and educational tradition is missing. Don’t you consider opening, say, something like The Day’s photo school – just like the Summer School of Journalism?
“This is a good idea. Personally I believe that if people do lack something, it is education. However, philosophers taught that the more you know, the better you realize just how deep the abyss of your ignorance is. Learning is a never-ending process. We must look up to people around us and learn from those who do something better than us. This is what we do, by all means. I follow the World Press Photo contest, and examine the prize-winning photos (including the Pulitzer Prize). Today the globalized world offers us such unbounded potentialities for learning from one another that all of us can be considered students. Our Summer School is a good school in this respect: it allows the older journalists to ‘stay fit,’ feel the demand, and learn.
“A photo school is something quite feasible, because for many years on end Leonid Bakka was our photo editor, and he became a good teacher to many photojournalists. So The Day’s photo school does exist, albeit informally. Many people, who will be represented at this photo contest, have worked for The Day. I instantly recognize their ‘hand,’ even without looking up the name at the back of the picture. The photo journalists, who once worked for us, have a good repute in the job market. We have ‘provided’ all of our presidents and first ladies with our photographers. We have always been ‘robbed,’ if I may put it so: as soon as we find and cherish a master photojournalist, they move elsewhere. Today, Borys Korpusenko is working at the Kyiv City Council, Oleksandr Kosariev with Klitschko, Andrii Musiienko and Mykhailo Markiv are both working for the president, Oleh Markevych (technically, he is not our photojournalist, but he has taken part in our photo contests) for the prime minister, Mykola Lazarenko worked as a photojournalist for President Yushchenko, and now he is head of the UNIAN photo service. Oleksandr Liapin, whom you have mentioned, Valerii Myloserdov, Viktor Marushchenko at various times – this is a powerful range of masters, and of course, they set certain standards.
“But I often say that should something terrible happen and (God forbid) no-one send us anything, we could rely on our own photojournalists. Ruslan Kaniuka, Kostiantyn Hryshyn, and Mykola Tymchenko could easily provide their works to fill a part of our exposition. If they had more time to spare, they could teach such a school. And maybe, they will like this idea. If they do, they have my full support. The photo school virtually exists, so why not formally acknowledge it?”
You said once that the main goals of the exhibition are Ukrainian integration, creation of a certain image of Ukraine, attempt to capture the spirit of the epoch. And what are the main criteria of the photo selection?
“I hear this question often. Of course, it is an absolutely subjective thing. There are some criteria concerning the technical side of the process: photos have to be of high quality, use of graphic editors is not welcome. The principles of our photo contest are the following: live photography, live music, live communication, and fresh flowers. And we have kept to these principles in every city we visited. But it is not easy to understand what ‘live’ means for different people. You need to work on it for many years, in order to later have a right for subjectivity. You need to obtain a certain reserve, culture, and level of the first reaction, because if you don’t, something really foolish might happen. But if you have got it, the first reaction becomes incredibly precise, it is like a laser, an impulse. You pick up a photo and think immediately, ‘What is this? Remember what you’ve seen.’ Simple thinking looks like this: if you are writing about a gas pipeline, you are going to use a photo of gas pipes. But that won’t do, there must be a paradox. By the way, we often get praised for captions for our photos. They come out good when I have time to edit almost all of them. And here comes another principle: we don’t just illustrate. I say, the photo is a success only when there’s something more than a photo. And this ‘something’ determines if the photo is an artwork or not. And this ‘something’ can be emphasized in some cases. We had a picture from the Maidan, in which the author captured a moment when Tymoshenko watched the conversation between Yushchenko and late Zinchenko. She looked at them in such a way that I named the photo The Third Eye. And it emphasized the unnaturalness and uneasiness of that picture. You can’t just write: this is Zinchenko and Yushchenko, and this is Yulia. Because in this way you would destroy the spirit of the photograph.
“All these international photo contests are full of blood, murders, acts of terrorism, explosions, they are a sea of catastrophes and sufferings. And that is what photo journalists are after, that is what naturally interests people. But in situation with Ukraine, the task is to grow tiny stems of good, underline that even in such crippled society as ours, there is huge potential that might help us change our perception of Ukraine, and of ourselves as well.”
But is photography enough?
“Of course, not. The Day is a newspaper for a country that does not exist yet. We are a project bureau. And you will see the image of the country you will like at our exhibitions: you will see people that you will love because they are your compatriots. Maybe, you will not see them in the street, but someone talented will take a photo of them, display it at the exhibition, and this person will become a part of your world. I often use Mikhail Zhvanetsky’s quote: “Odesa was made up by the Jews, and the rest just believed in it.” Showing, emphasizing, and projecting things that relate to you is a very positive thing. Other people might follow your project.
“We can write an endless story about the history of photos that were present at our exhibition. They urged people to do good deeds, gathered those around them who later thought, ‘We will do that too.’ A reaction to a photograph, whether it is direct or indirect, is very important. There’s laughter and tears, and people pushing each other, take photos with their cell phones, call others, saying, ‘Leave whatever you are doing, you have to see this.’ It became a wonderful way of leisure: attend a photo exhibition, then go out for a coffee, talk, and then go to the exhibition again (laughs).”
Has there been a moment when you lost faith in what you are doing? Because all the things you are talking about sound really optimistic in general.
“I would not say I ever lost faith. I always understood that things I do, should be done, and I know how to do them. But I have had a lot of bitter thoughts that everything is not happening as fast and nice as I expected, people misunderstand or don’t give enough support to the important things. We did achieve a lot for our country already, therefore I wish this would become a collective way of action of Ukrainian journalists, I wish that more of them joined this process. Let us look at the 15 books of the new series, ‘Armor-Piercing Political Writing’ – they are the expression of a need to tell everyone about the spread of false education. Such projects as Book Arsenal should be shown to the country. If I was in charge of one of the TV channels, I would place cameras at the Book Arsenal and broadcast it all day long. The country needs to be shown to itself. We have a distorted image of Ukrainian society. We don’t see ourselves from the positive side, which causes a lot of depression and some sort of boredom. People are not interested, because they don’t know about things that might interest them.”
So, do you think such things are not broadcasted because of a certain mass media policy, or because the society shows no demand?
“I am sure that we need to work with TV channels owners as well. There are cheap ways to make money on TV, you know. Once, when Russian journalists were teaching Barbara Brylska for the umpteenth time to talk about how popular she is in the CIS, that her Ironia sudby [‘Irony of Fate.’ – Ed.] has been shown on TV during festive holidays for 20 years, that a sequel to this film was made… And then she said an absolutely brilliant thing with this superb intonation. She said: ‘Oh, my poor, poor things…’ The period of brezhnevism is artificially prolonged in our country. Brezhnev himself passed away long ago, but the style of living is unchanging: we still have the same ‘stars’ on TV, same movies. But the world has changed long time ago. And these artificially created obstacles distorted the consciousness of many people. But it will do no harm to peek to the other side of the TV screen.”
Are the ones, who create these obstacles, deformed for good too?
“Perhaps, but some of them have too much profit out of it. As Winnie-the-Pooh said, ‘This buzzing sound is there for a reason.’ The society needs to be more educated in order to understand. One author from Odesa wrote a beautiful article about the Book Arsenal, I completely agree to a lot of his thoughts, and this one phrase in particular: ‘Nations that don’t read philophers’ works, cannot make a Mercedes.’ This is the all-time way to success, through hard work in education. And in our case, in self-education as well. We cannot wait until our government gets smarter. We know that we have to learn. And we know where to learn. Recently, I talked to the editor-in-chief of Novaya Gazeta [Russian opposition periodical. – Ed.] Dmitry Muratov, and we touched upon that important matter of what Russian journalism (in particular, Kommersant and Novaya Gazeta) is doing now: it is fighting for its country, constantly improves it. And we yet have to create our own one. And he agreed that these are fundamentally different tasks. Yes, just like making a Mercedes, creation of the country requires people who read philosophers’ works. It requires people that absorb information fast, because the world is constantly changing, and our intellectuals give us a base for associative thinking. We should use it as a starting ground, in order to be able to move on, think by ourselves, and live the lives we want to.”
Do you have any favorite works among the ones presented at this year’s photo contest?
“We have a nomination ‘World as Seen by Children,’ and its winners receive special awards from the Ukrainian office of the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). Perhaps, their works are not always perfect from the technical point of view, but we support every child’s attempt to recreate the world. And during the previous contests, we have always been sort of lenient about it. And this year, I was surprised by some exceptionally good photos by children. I also liked the geographic representation of photographers: Kharkiv, Donetsk, Sumy, Odesa. Children’s works are full of energy and freshness.”
Den is my country, home, Europe, and memory
This newspaper’s readers trust the editors and vice versa. Den spells quality and independence
By Oxana PACHLOVSKA, University of Rome (Oct. 11, 2012)
Every effective democracy has been built aided by the press. In France, the first issue of La Gazette de Paris came off the presses in 1631. Great Britain’s The Spectator was born in 1711, meant “to bring philosophy out of the closets and libraries, schools and colleges, to dwell in clubs and assemblies, at tea-tables and coffeehouses” [Issue No. 10]. The Times remains one of the most influential periodicals. Poland’s Gazeta Wyborcza is Solidarity’s culmination point, considering that the first issue came off the presses on May 8, 1989, and that in June the opposition won 99 percent of seats in the Senate.
Newspapers make academic and other knowledge accessible to the man in the street, thus aiding public education, considering that education is one of the pillars of democracy.
Den is playing this role in Ukrainian society. From the outset the editors have tried to envelope the whole range of sensitive issues in Ukrainian history and current realities. Had this information been kept in academic editions, it would have been accessible only to experts. Today, this information is accessible to all who wish to learn more about Ukraine and the world. This is like a laser beam, reaching farther with each passing day. Kyivan Rus’, Holodomor, armor-piercing journalism, dialog with democratic Russia – these are separate projects that serve to create a single whole, a complex motive force that restructures public memory, consciousness, and aspirations.
Den is reviving humanitarian knowledge – the kind of knowledge that was destroyed under totalitarianism in the first place. Whatever the editors’ topic – history, politics, music, economy, poetry, astronomy – man comes first, with all his nuances and sentiments that have everything to do with his native Ukrainian land and cosmos.
Den has been intrinsically calm and dignified at the hardest of times. This is best described as self-respect, as well as respect for others with varying views, against the backdrop of postmodern culture and politics that vainly flirt with the general public, feeding them bravado and obscenities. The editors do not sophisticate the language, just as they do not simplify it. Hence the Den’s universality while coursing between the European Parliament and Ukrainian countryside, addressing huge audiences and offering the man in the street something worth being read. Den’s greatest achievement is its younger readers, its summer school of journalism; all those young people who are Ukraine’s future.
I can only thank Den’s Editor-in-Chief Larysa Ivshyna and the rest of the staff for turning Ukraine Incognita into Ukraine Cognita, for their professionalism, intellectual decency, new cultural projects, for their determined effort aimed at building a civil society, for their very existence.
Den spells active public stand
By Valentyn NALYVAICHENKO
As a dedicated reader, I would like to congratulate the editors on the 16th anniversary of this daily, also on the tenth anniversary of the book Ukraine Incognita, and the 14th anniversary of Den’s annual photo exhibit.
I remain very impressed by your emphasis on the restoration of historical truth, by your professional journalism and intellectual approach when dealing with topical issues.
Ukraine is badly in need of such balanced intellectually informative up-to-date periodicals.
Den spells an active and honest public stand, transparency, true Ukrainian spirit, unbiased and principled approach.
I wish the editors the best of success. Keep up the good job!
