In the Hanenkov Museum, the photo exhibition “Behind the Lens: Culture in the Vortex of War” about the Ukrainian cultural heritage destroyed by Russia continues. The project is implemented by the Institute of Mass Information with the support of the UNESCO Heritage Emergency Fund and the people of Japan.
65 photographers from different parts of Ukraine took part in the project, who took more than 6,500 photos of damaged or destroyed cultural, historical and religious objects. In the lens of the authors you can see broken windows and mutilated facades of churches and houses of culture, destroyed ceilings of theaters and ruins of libraries.
Exhibition curator, journalist and photographer, winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize, Stas Kozlyuk says that during the implementation of the project it was necessary to expand the list of damaged cultural monuments: “Russia does not stop the war. For example, after the shelling of Chernihiv on August 19, 2023, we added 8 or 10 buildings from the central square of the city. Among them are the Chernihiv Theater and the courthouse. All buildings were damaged as a result of the Iskander missile attack. Also to the list we added the damaged Cathedral in Odessa. Then Valentin Kuzan made documentary pictures.”
In total, the final collection of the exhibition included half a hundred photos. Stas Kozlyuk explains that when compiling the collection, the quality of photos from both the artistic and technical sides was taken into account for the first time. Also, the organizers of the exhibition sought to show the geography of destruction. “We wanted to present the entire front line virtually. Because the photographers shot from Kyiv region to Chernihiv region, Sumy region, Kharkiv region, Donetsk region, Zaporizhia, Mykolaiv region, Kherson region and Odessa region. By the way, the extreme western point in the project is Zhytomyr region. There is a church destroyed by the Russians.”
The curator of the exhibition admits that he was impressed by the feedback received from visitors to the exhibition, who spoke about the scale of the destruction. “It's interesting to see how people react. You see the realization that the war is closer than it seems. For example, a damaged church in the Brovarsky district 30 minutes drive from Kiev or the burned House of Culture in Irpen, which is also nearby. People from Nikolaev approached me and said: “We thought that only our city suffers greatly from shelling. But you see the exhibition and understand that the situation is similar in many regions,” says Stas Kozlyuk. “I am very glad that we managed to show this scale of the crime committed by the Russians. That was the main idea we put into this project.”
Currently, the exposition can be seen in the National Museum of Arts named after Bohdan and Varvara Khanenkov until May 19. Opening hours: from 10:30 to 17:00, on Thursday - from 12:00 to 19:30 (Monday, Tuesday - weekend). Entrance is free. On weekends, May 18 and 19, the Museum will hold two additional tours (Saturday in English).
After Kyiv, the photo exhibition will be taken to Paris.
The material was worked on:
Researcher of the topic, author of the text: Vira Labych
Bildeditor: Vyacheslav Ratynskyi
Literary Editor: Julia Futei
Site Manager: Vladislav Kuhar
In the Hanenkov Museum, the photo exhibition “Behind the Lens: Culture in the Vortex of War” about the Ukrainian cultural heritage destroyed by Russia continues. The project is implemented by the Institute of Mass Information with the support of the UNESCO Heritage Emergency Fund and the people of Japan.
65 photographers from different parts of Ukraine took part in the project, who took more than 6,500 photos of damaged or destroyed cultural, historical and religious objects. In the lens of the authors you can see broken windows and mutilated facades of churches and houses of culture, destroyed ceilings of theaters and ruins of libraries.
Exhibition curator, journalist and photographer, winner of the 2023 Pulitzer Prize, Stas Kozlyuk says that during the implementation of the project it was necessary to expand the list of damaged cultural monuments: “Russia does not stop the war. For example, after the shelling of Chernihiv on August 19, 2023, we added 8 or 10 buildings from the central square of the city. Among them are the Chernihiv Theater and the courthouse. All buildings were damaged as a result of the Iskander missile attack. Also to the list we added the damaged Cathedral in Odessa. Then Valentin Kuzan made documentary pictures.”
In total, the final collection of the exhibition included half a hundred photos. Stas Kozlyuk explains that when compiling the collection, the quality of photos from both the artistic and technical sides was taken into account for the first time. Also, the organizers of the exhibition sought to show the geography of destruction. “We wanted to present the entire front line virtually. Because the photographers shot from Kyiv region to Chernihiv region, Sumy region, Kharkiv region, Donetsk region, Zaporizhia, Mykolaiv region, Kherson region and Odessa region. By the way, the extreme western point in the project is Zhytomyr region. There is a church destroyed by the Russians.”
The curator of the exhibition admits that he was impressed by the feedback received from visitors to the exhibition, who spoke about the scale of the destruction. “It's interesting to see how people react. You see the realization that the war is closer than it seems. For example, a damaged church in the Brovarsky district 30 minutes drive from Kiev or the burned House of Culture in Irpen, which is also nearby. People from Nikolaev approached me and said: “We thought that only our city suffers greatly from shelling. But you see the exhibition and understand that the situation is similar in many regions,” says Stas Kozlyuk. “I am very glad that we managed to show this scale of the crime committed by the Russians. That was the main idea we put into this project.”
Currently, the exposition can be seen in the National Museum of Arts named after Bohdan and Varvara Khanenkov until May 19. Opening hours: from 10:30 to 17:00, on Thursday - from 12:00 to 19:30 (Monday, Tuesday - weekend). Entrance is free. On weekends, May 18 and 19, the Museum will hold two additional tours (Saturday in English).
After Kyiv, the photo exhibition will be taken to Paris.
The material was worked on:
Researcher of the topic, author of the text: Vira Labych
Bildeditor: Vyacheslav Ratynskyi
Literary Editor: Julia Futei
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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