Back when she was attending the photo exhibition’s presentation at Lesia Ukrainka Eastern European National University, which she did because Lutsk mayor Mykola Romaniuk had chosen that occasion to present her with a selection of Den’s books, Oksana Sakharchuk decided she had to bring her students there. After all, there is no need to introduce Den in the Lokachi gymnasium, since the newspaper is so popular there that the school’s librarian does not even bind its issues before the year’s end, for they are constantly in demand. Den enjoys especially favorable treatment in the school, because our editor-in-chief Larysa Ivshyna is its alumna as well. The gymnasium has already hosted three research conferences devoted to Den’s publications, and one of them was a very informative presentation held as part of the regional seminar for teachers of law.
However, they only heard about photo exhibitions before, so a few dozen high school students joined the trip to Lutsk.
“CARTHAGES OF PROVINCIALISM MUST BE DESTROYED!”
“I strongly desired that kids see these photos firsthand, give thought to what they saw, and experience with their hearts what every visitor feels. We direly need today thought impulses which will motivate us to think of the ways to change ourselves and Ukraine. Den’s photo exhibition is a source of precisely these impulses. However, our trip was not just educational, but a learning experience in itself: having assembled their emotions, so to speak, our students should now write their reviews, some sort of essays about the photo exhibition,” Sakharchuk told us.
Ever since the gymnasium hosted a research conference on “Armor-Piercing Political Writing” series, its students have been habitually repeating George Shevelov’s phrase ‘Carthages of provincialism must be destroyed!’ The young residents of Lokachi very often go on various field trips. The gymnasium has its own field trip program, called “Explore Your Homeland, and You Will Explore Ukraine.” Although, of course, the students dream of visiting Kyiv, Kaniv, and especially Hlukhiv and Baturyn, parents and sponsors currently can only afford studying the history of the school’s home region. Peresopnytsia, Volodymyr-Volynsky, Zymne, Lutsk (including its museums and theater), Kysylyn, Novy Zahoriv, Zaturtsi – these localities were visited in recent years. The high school students said that Den’s photo exhibition expanded the horizons of their worldviews and knowledge of the world.
“HOW IMPORTANT AND HOW HARD IT IS TO REMAIN HUMAN UNDER THOSE CONDITIONS”
“These pictures reflect real life,” 10th-grader Oleksandr Marchuk told us. “Of course, pictures from the frontlines of this undeclared war were a true discovery for me. They show how important and how difficult it is to remain human under those conditions. The series Political Thriller. Minsk 2 is very impressive. How telling are poses and facial expressions of people who decide the fates of others, the fates of nations, the fate of the world!”
“I have contradictory impressions, because my emotions due to what I saw here are contradictory as well,” we heard from 10th-grader Asia Shumuk. “It induced tears as well as joy, the latter born by the fact that Ukraine has heroes and patriots. Therefore, I have a strong hope that everything will be fine, and this is the most important conclusion we have drawn on seeing it. I had never thought that pictures can be more eloquent than words. Thank you, Den, for these discoveries.”
“IT IS IMPORTANT TO GO AND SEE THE PHOTO EXHIBITION IF ONE IS TO MAKE THE RIGHT CHOICES WHEN VOTING IN ELECTIONS”
Our exchange of impressions with the Lokachi gymnasium’s history teacher Liudmyla Zinchuk turned into a long conversation about how our young people developed now and how they ought to develop, how Ukraine had to look like and what the school could do to develop patriotism. We meant true and genuine patriotism, rather than one expressed by good photo opportunities and nice words. She said that when selecting its field trips’ destinations, the gymnasium, too, strived to focus on locations which wake up the Ukrainian soul and teach patriotism.
Whenever possible, the field trips involve both parents and teachers. When aged 14 to 16 years, the kids were already very well versed in politics, she said, and they knew the composition of the new Cabinet and the actions of the president... They also know what the goals of this undeclared war are and whose responsibility it is. And they draw their own conclusions. The teacher pointed out to several pictures, which, in her view, reflected the current state of Ukraine, the country that we have built. Although, of course, we wanted to build a much happier and richer one. She believes Oleksandr Klymenko’s Sunflowers. Minor to be the most telling photo, as she sees it as showing the essence of Ukraine. It pictures sunflowers, these truly Ukrainian flowers, which have mostly bowed their heads, but some of them are still holding them up. Artem Slipachuk’s photo Father and Sons is a vivid illustration of sacrifice, heroism, people’s readiness to defend their country, their world. Klymenko’s The Nation’s Gold, showing tanks on a background of a ripe wheat field, reflects the Ukrainian reality. Of course, people pictured in Mykola Lazarenko’s photos from the series Political Thriller. Minsk 2 make a major psychological impression.
However, Zinchuk would have completed the photo exhibition with Mykhailo Markiv’s photo The System’s Founding Fathers, which portrays our three presidents whose administrations saw Ukraine, as Taras Shevchenko once said, “taking itself to the very brink of death.” Thus, she believes it is very important for young people to go and see this photo exhibition if they are to make the right choice in the next election, not to waste opportunities and think, think, think.
After the trip to Den’s photo exhibition, Lokachi school kids visited the Museum of Volyn Icon (though many had been to it before) and the Lutsk military airfield. The latter was on the schedule because it had recently been revived. After years of silence, aircraft of the Ukrainian Air Force land and take off there again. They fly over Lokachi as well. The fact that our military is recovering and gaining strength is a pleasing one, as it calms people and gives hope for peace. Meanwhile, seeing military aircraft and our military’s airfield is also an important part of the students’ patriotic education, the school’s teachers believe.
TO THE POINT
Den’s photo exhibition, hosted by Lesia Ukrainka Eastern European National University, has been extended until May 22, because many locals still want to visit it. It is housed in the university’s library, admission is free, open from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., except on Saturdays and Sundays.
