The photo exhibit “Ternova osin” (Thorny Autumn) organized by the newspaper Den in Drohobych has come to an end. It was attended not only by residents of the Lviv region, but also guests from Luhansk, Ternopil, Kyiv, Odesa, Ivano-Frankivsk. The exposition was also attended by diplomats from Poland, Austria, Germany, Belgium, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Lithuania, including EU Ambassador to Ukraine Jan Tombinski, because at the beginning of June the European town Drohobych celebrated the Days of Europe. The employees of the museum say that many people from various regions had heard about the competition, which is why they all arrived to the town.
“I would like to emphasize that Den’s photo exhibit is above all a social project, which is topical due to the establishment of a new civil society, people who think differently, and who have undergone deep changes,” considers Alla HLADUN, the director of the museum “Drohobychchyna,” which hosted the photo exhibit in its Palace of Arts. “This exposition is like a mirror. When we look at the pictures, we realize our own spiritual transformations, analyze, let our eye dwell on the events, which were hard to capture in the whirl of time. But the artists coped with this. This is a life-asserting photo exhibit. It reflects the spiritual power of Ukrainian nation. And we are happy to have Den in our town.”
“The team of the Drohobych-based Ivan Franko Pedagogical University expresses its deep respect and gratitude to the newspaper,” says pro-rector on scientific-pedagogical work Yurii KYSHAKEVYCH, “In the city, which is located far from the military actions, but energetically it is united with those who defend our sleep in the east, this photo exhibit became in a certain sense a shocking impulse. The photographers have captured in the whirl of events the scenes that leave no one indifferent. A huge number of students have attended the exposition, and we believe that it will become a powerful motivation to help our state even more with everything we can.”
What shots impressed the residents of Drohobych and guests of the city of Ivan Franko and Yurii Drohobych the most? According to the voting, the first place went to the shot by Maksym Liukov Human Warmth. This work will now “live” in the “Drohobychchyna” museum. The patron, Ukraine’s MP of seventh convocation Roman Ilyk bought a large copy of this photo and gave it to the museum as a present. At the closing of the exhibit a symbolical continuation of the “conversation” of the residents of Drohobych with Den took place: Roman Ilyk joined the action “Give Den’s Library to Your School,” and “armed” the specialized school No. 2 with all books published by the newspaper. His daughter Olena Ilyk, who handed the presents to deputy principal of the school, shared, “We thank Den for this wonderful photo exhibit. It is both joyful and sad at the same time. Such events are extremely needed in small towns and this motivates people to learn more. My father, my sisters, and I have studied in the specialized school No. 2, and we have decided to make such a precious present for our school. This is high-quality literature which must educate the young generation. May the ‘Armor-Piercing Political Writing’ series become good weapons in the hands of the youth.”
We also offer for your attention the report of our journalist who communicated with the visitors of the photo exhibit during the last days of its display in Drohobych.
A woman with a nine-year-old son enters the hall of the Palace of Arts. They start their journey through the exposition of different pages of Ukrainian history.
“For some reason I liked this picture the most,” Iryna Pylypchyn casts a piercing glance at the photo of a soldier of the battalion Kyiv-2, sniper Amina Okuieva, who secures her gun. “I have seen all of them, but I’ve remembered this one. This powerful look and resoluteness. This picture also seemed to be very realistic to me,” she points at the photo depicting an elderly woman walking across the locality that was heavily damaged by the war in the east of Ukraine. It is very truthful. These pictures have helped me feel the picture of the world better. I can see that patriotism and hope is a common thread running through this exhibit. At the moment we are in the hall dedicated to the war, other show its different faces which quite fully characterize the Ukrainian situation. Here,” she points at another photo, “we can see the face of the person who is fighting at the war, this is a result of the war, this is the evidence of the war, this is another side of it.”
We are moving to the second hall, and Iryna continues to share her thoughts, “This is a very apt observation,” she laughs at the picture Why Are We Not in the European Union? It really made me laugh, indeed, why aren’t we? This is good either, it depicts a courageous and handsome boy,” she points at the next photo. “My son is 21 too, therefore I cannot look at these pictures calmly.” She silently looks at the shot. Her little son is running around us. The lady continues in disturbed voice, “I am thinking, I hope that everything will end soon. In this hall everything is clear,” we move to the hall where we are surrounded by the pictures of the bloody winter of 2013-14.
“Marko, how did you like the exhibit?” I ask the boy. He is shyly hiding behind his mom’s back.
“Which one did you like the most? I’ve brought you here to look at the pictures,” the mom asks her son.
“He is too young to understand these events,” employee of the museum Liubov Vasylkiv joins our conversation and continues, “You know, when children come to the photo exhibit, we have to explain what war is, because they don’t understand. For them a war is in a computer, when their hero is shot down, he dies, but comes back to life in a few seconds, and the game continues. This is not what it is in reality. They start to think deeply, when you explain this to them. You have to tell about every picture, about what is going on in the east.”
We proceed. “In this hall the emotions are more positive,” Iryna continues smiling, “There are a lot of funny photos here. I remember my grandmother wearing the same kerchief and dress. And this is great too,” she points at the picture with a girl in the background of tights of all colors that are drying. “There are all colors of the rainbow, even more. I am so glad that I have gotten here.”
Having looked through all the halls, we move towards the exit, but Iryna stops in the middle of the hall, with her eyes stuck to a photo of politicians. “I’m trying to avoid watching the news, and I would not like to even see their photos,” her eyes stop at Character, where Poroshenko looks at Putin in reproach, and the German Chancellor Angela Merkel stands next to them. “I very doubt that he has a character,” she’s laughing, “He has a face of a victim. I don’t know what character the author meant when he wrote the caption to the picture. I can’t look at them. I would remove these photos from here.”
“When I was looking through the Guest Book today, I came across a very interesting recording,” Liubov says, “A man writes that everything is wonderful, except for the photo with Putin. He didn’t even write Putin’s name with a capital letter. People don’t want to see these photos. In Japan there is a tradition for the employees. When they are frustrated and angry at their bosses, they go to the basement with dummies depicting their bosses and kick them. Maybe we should do the same with him?” the women start laughing. Iryna continues, “Why only Yanukovych? I would say we should beat all of them. He is not the only one to blame.”
Liubov and I proceed to the hall where we started our tour, we are surrounded by photos from the war. The woman takes floor, and Iryna Pylypchyn and little Marko fill in a page in the Guest Book.
“The pictures with children are very interesting. People try to find many approaches to them. This photo is very popular with people,” Liubov stops near the picture which depicts a girl roller skating past a building damaged by shelling. “It seems that there is a terrible war going on and all those events, but this girl is simply roller skating.”
Iryna and Marko choose the best picture in the questionnaire sheets, but the mother has already made her decision: Okuieva. Artist Serhii Bulok stands next to them and looks attentively at the pictures. We start a conversation. “There are photos in which you see the entire story of the person. They all depict the historical time for Ukraine, a certain time or moment of establishment of our country. When a person watches something on TV, this is one thing, and when s/he is standing at an exhibit and looking at a picture so intensely that s/he can understand its deep meaning, this is a totally different thing. A photo exhibit is a whole film about the establishment of Ukraine. The photos show our time dimension, because there has always been struggle in the world, this is life philosophy. We can see namely our state, not some Soviet reality that was depicted earlier, but real us who defend our state.”
