Traveling in time

The exposition comprises works by four Ukrainian photo artists. A 1964 German reference book on the history of photography singled out Iryna Pap, an Izvestia photo correspondent who founded the first professional school in Kyiv, as one of the world’s best female photo reporters. Viktor Marushchenko, who photographed for Sovetskaya Kultura and Den, opened his own school of photography in 2004. Oleksandr Ranchukov, who once worked as photographer at the Institute of the History and Theory of Architecture, is a now a freelance documentary photographer and contributor to many periodicals. Ihor Hilbo, who has seven solo exhibits to his credit, is now engaged in the publishing business.

The walls of the Dukat gallery, where the exhibit is being held, offer a window on the past, an opportunity to see what Kyiv was like 30 or 50 years ago and what it will never be again. The stadium is also full of people, but it has no roof and is called differently – Central, not Olympic. Khreshchatyk is not spoiled with adverts and all kinds of signboards, the driveway is almost empty – just a few buses and cars which you might only see now in rich private collections or at the Old Car Land festival. But the Khreshchatyk metro station in the rush hours and city beaches on weekends resemble an anthill, as they do now. Some popular places are difficult to recognize – an unpaved Andriivskyi Uzviz without stairs, bread loafs instead of adverts or cafe chairs in a Lower Wall window, Vozdvyshenka not yet built over with elitist real estate which is almost standing idly now…

A LEGEND ON THE CONVEYOR: THE HISTORY OF ONE OF KYIV’S HALLMARKS BEGAN SEVERAL DECADES AGO AT THE KARL MARX CONFECTIONARY FACTORY

Interestingly enough, the “era of stagnation” shown on most of the pictures is full of obvious contradictions. In addition to parades, red banners, and demonstration of the achievements of workers in Soviet Ukraine’s capital, there were also some islets of history and originality. That period saw the first sprouts of a new culture, creative search, and the freedom of self-expression. This atmosphere attracted to Kyiv a lot of figures who were not afraid to veer off the Communist Party-blazed paths of socialist realism.

“KYIV HAS CHANGED, AS DOES EVERYTHING IN THE COURSE OF TIME”

Legendary figures and art gurus look very different on these photos – young, energetic, smiling, sad, or absorbed in thought. The faces of ordinary city residents also draw your attention, for they differ from one another and their expressions speak volumes. These amazingly precise and profound sketches of the everyday life of both the upper crust and the grassroots allow raising slightly the curtain of the past and, at the same time, give full play to dreaming. The contrasts of Kyiv time allow feeling the true spirit of that epoch, becoming aware of various periods in the city’s history, and reconsidering the attitude to our own role in it.

The pictures of the past have struck a chord with older-age visitors who saw what is in the pictures with their own eyes. They exchange reminiscences and argue whether changes and modern trends in urban construction have benefited Kyiv. “Of course, Kyiv has changed, as does everything in the course of time. There are wonderful and awful, natural and unnatural changes. It seems at first glance that the city is worse now. But one should not forget about correlation between the outward appearance of structures and the convenience of usage. For example, we can feast our eyes on ancient buildings in downtown Kyiv but, at the same time, forget that there used to be one kitchen and one bathroom for 10 families there. Modern buildings are more functional,” says Ihor HILBO whose works are part of the exhibit. Undoubtedly, changes are a natural and unavoidable thing. But a rational approach and balance could minimize the irretrievable losses of historical coloring and of the special charm Kyiv has acquired in the centuries of its existence.

You can sink into the capital’s past via its “portraits” until September 5 at the Dukat gallery.