The Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers together with Danylo Poliluyev-Schmidt continue to cover events in Ukraine at the international level.
Danylo held a seminar “Armed truth — images of Ukrainian media” within the StudiumPlus program, where the exhibition “Armed truth - 10 years of the Revolution of Dignity and Euromaidan in Ukraine” was also presented.
The exhibition includes photographs taken by Ukrainian documentarians Mstislav Chernov and Vyacheslav Ratynsky during the Revolution of Dignity and during key historical events in Ukraine over the past 10 years.
“Our target audience is non-Ukrainian students who want to learn more about Ukraine,” says the course leader. “They study the history of Ukraine from the point of view of the media.” Participants also gain hands-on experience by visiting the exhibition and events. They communicate with both foundations and journalists from Ukraine, Poland and Germany, learning about how they report on events in the country in what are often dangerous conditions.
“Our seminar explores people's struggle for press freedom and democracy over the past decades from the perspective of photographers,” says the seminar presenter. From the “Revolution on Granite” in 1990, when students took to the streets for the country's independence from the Soviet Union, to the “Orange Revolution” after the 2004 presidential election, which was repeated due to suspicion of falsifications, and to the “Revolution of Dignity”, which began on November 21, 2013 and lasted 93 days. And, finally, about the latest events, the annexation of Crimea and Russia's war in eastern Ukraine. The goal is also to increase students' media literacy. “One of the main topics is fake news. Students learn to recognize distorted information, partly in German or British media,” says Poliluyev-Schmidt.
The seminar is held for the second time. In the winter semester 2022/2023, the participants developed an exhibition with photographs from 1990 to 2022. To this end, they collaborated with the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers (UAPP), an all-Ukrainian association of photographers. Students are now presenting a new exhibition with 30 images from the Revolution of Dignity. It will be exhibited not only at the University of Potsdam, but also at the Potsdam Nikolaissaal and in Berlin. Danylo Poliluyev-Schmidt brought three photos to the interview: they show police violence of the Ukrainian special unit “Berkut” against demonstrators on the Maidan in Kiev. The photos were taken by photographers Oleksiy Furman and Vladislav Muslienko, who will also take part in a podium discussion organized by students at Cafe Kyiv in February 2024 and will tell how these photos were taken. A third photographer, Max Levine, was killed in the war.
One of the participants of the seminar is Noah McKay. “As an American, it's important for me to learn more about Ukraine and its history,” says the student, who has close friends from that country.
“In the United States, this perspective is not in the coverage of events, it only talks about battles and topical headlines, not about the prehistory of the war.” In the United States, Noah McKay studied German philology and physics at East Carolina University. In Potsdam, he is currently pursuing a master's program in German philology. A few weeks ago, he took part in an event in Wildau on scientific relations between Ukraine and Germany: “It is important for me to create this cooperation between Germany and Ukraine.” With his knowledge from the seminar, he wants to tell other Americans about the history of Ukraine in the future.
“The revolution of dignity has now taken place exactly ten years ago,” says Poliluyev-Schmidt, who has been living in Germany since 2019 and studying biochemistry and molecular biology in Potsdam. “In Germany and elsewhere, it has been ignored. And when it was reported, at first they spoke of either a putsch or a rebellion of the radical right.” Subsequently, these events were called the revolution. Danylo Poliluyev-Schmidt is originally from Ukraine and also has Polish roots. During the Revolution of Dignity 2013-2014, he studied in Lviv.
“When I heard that President Viktor Yanukovych would not sign an association agreement with Ukraine, I had the feeling that someone had stolen my future. I was born in 1996 in independent Ukraine and grew up with the idea that we would become part of the EU and NATO, like Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.” The student went to Kiev and took to the streets along with thousands of people. “When the military police began to use violence against peaceful demonstrators, we realized that this government would only oppress us.” Most of the protesters were students. “On some days there were incredibly many people on the Maidan, even at minus 20 degrees. We stood so tight we didn't freeze and sang the hymn: 'We will give our body and soul for our freedom'.” Many people were injured, more than 100 people were shot during a demonstration on February 20, 2014. To this day, it is not known who is responsible for their deaths. “Then it was about more than joining the EU — it was a struggle for democracy and freedom of speech. These events helped Ukraine to continue the struggle and defend its dignity, its democracy, not only on paper,” says Danylo Poliluyev-Schmidt.
In the summer of 2024, he will again hold a seminar. After that, he plans to complete his studies. For the project to stay alive, he already has an idea: he wants to create an association with interesting workshop participants to study the media culture of the country.
Danylo Poliluyev-Schmidt — representative of the public organization IWEK e.V., which focuses on cultural, political, educational, scientific and social projects in Germany.
The material was worked on:
Researcher of the topic, author of the text: Marusya Maruzhenko
Site Manager: Vladislav Kuhar
The Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers together with Danylo Poliluyev-Schmidt continue to cover events in Ukraine at the international level.
Danylo held a seminar “Armed truth — images of Ukrainian media” within the StudiumPlus program, where the exhibition “Armed truth - 10 years of the Revolution of Dignity and Euromaidan in Ukraine” was also presented.
The exhibition includes photographs taken by Ukrainian documentarians Mstislav Chernov and Vyacheslav Ratynsky during the Revolution of Dignity and during key historical events in Ukraine over the past 10 years.
“Our target audience is non-Ukrainian students who want to learn more about Ukraine,” says the course leader. “They study the history of Ukraine from the point of view of the media.” Participants also gain hands-on experience by visiting the exhibition and events. They communicate with both foundations and journalists from Ukraine, Poland and Germany, learning about how they report on events in the country in what are often dangerous conditions.
“Our seminar explores people's struggle for press freedom and democracy over the past decades from the perspective of photographers,” says the seminar presenter. From the “Revolution on Granite” in 1990, when students took to the streets for the country's independence from the Soviet Union, to the “Orange Revolution” after the 2004 presidential election, which was repeated due to suspicion of falsifications, and to the “Revolution of Dignity”, which began on November 21, 2013 and lasted 93 days. And, finally, about the latest events, the annexation of Crimea and Russia's war in eastern Ukraine. The goal is also to increase students' media literacy. “One of the main topics is fake news. Students learn to recognize distorted information, partly in German or British media,” says Poliluyev-Schmidt.
The seminar is held for the second time. In the winter semester 2022/2023, the participants developed an exhibition with photographs from 1990 to 2022. To this end, they collaborated with the Ukrainian Association of Professional Photographers (UAPP), an all-Ukrainian association of photographers. Students are now presenting a new exhibition with 30 images from the Revolution of Dignity. It will be exhibited not only at the University of Potsdam, but also at the Potsdam Nikolaissaal and in Berlin. Danylo Poliluyev-Schmidt brought three photos to the interview: they show police violence of the Ukrainian special unit “Berkut” against demonstrators on the Maidan in Kiev. The photos were taken by photographers Oleksiy Furman and Vladislav Muslienko, who will also take part in a podium discussion organized by students at Cafe Kyiv in February 2024 and will tell how these photos were taken. A third photographer, Max Levine, was killed in the war.
One of the participants of the seminar is Noah McKay. “As an American, it's important for me to learn more about Ukraine and its history,” says the student, who has close friends from that country.
“In the United States, this perspective is not in the coverage of events, it only talks about battles and topical headlines, not about the prehistory of the war.” In the United States, Noah McKay studied German philology and physics at East Carolina University. In Potsdam, he is currently pursuing a master's program in German philology. A few weeks ago, he took part in an event in Wildau on scientific relations between Ukraine and Germany: “It is important for me to create this cooperation between Germany and Ukraine.” With his knowledge from the seminar, he wants to tell other Americans about the history of Ukraine in the future.
“The revolution of dignity has now taken place exactly ten years ago,” says Poliluyev-Schmidt, who has been living in Germany since 2019 and studying biochemistry and molecular biology in Potsdam. “In Germany and elsewhere, it has been ignored. And when it was reported, at first they spoke of either a putsch or a rebellion of the radical right.” Subsequently, these events were called the revolution. Danylo Poliluyev-Schmidt is originally from Ukraine and also has Polish roots. During the Revolution of Dignity 2013-2014, he studied in Lviv.
“When I heard that President Viktor Yanukovych would not sign an association agreement with Ukraine, I had the feeling that someone had stolen my future. I was born in 1996 in independent Ukraine and grew up with the idea that we would become part of the EU and NATO, like Poland, Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia.” The student went to Kiev and took to the streets along with thousands of people. “When the military police began to use violence against peaceful demonstrators, we realized that this government would only oppress us.” Most of the protesters were students. “On some days there were incredibly many people on the Maidan, even at minus 20 degrees. We stood so tight we didn't freeze and sang the hymn: 'We will give our body and soul for our freedom'.” Many people were injured, more than 100 people were shot during a demonstration on February 20, 2014. To this day, it is not known who is responsible for their deaths. “Then it was about more than joining the EU — it was a struggle for democracy and freedom of speech. These events helped Ukraine to continue the struggle and defend its dignity, its democracy, not only on paper,” says Danylo Poliluyev-Schmidt.
In the summer of 2024, he will again hold a seminar. After that, he plans to complete his studies. For the project to stay alive, he already has an idea: he wants to create an association with interesting workshop participants to study the media culture of the country.
Danylo Poliluyev-Schmidt — representative of the public organization IWEK e.V., which focuses on cultural, political, educational, scientific and social projects in Germany.
The material was worked on:
Researcher of the topic, author of the text: Marusya Maruzhenko
Site Manager: Vladislav Kuhar
UAPP is an independent association of professional Ukrainian photographers, designed to protect their interests, support, develop and promote Ukrainian photography as an important element of national culture.
UAPP's activities span educational, social, research and cultural initiatives, as well as book publishing.
UAPP represents Ukrainian professional photography in the international photographic community and is an official member of the Federation of European Photographers (FEP) — an international organization representing more than 50,000 professional photographers in Europe and other countries around the world.
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