“This barbwire means the pain of all Ukrainians”

The 15-year-old participant of The Day’s Photo Competition Oleh Krysa dreams that the barbwire and the police’s cordons did not become a symbol of nowadays.

These days these ghosts of Sta­li­nism are especially active. What can we do, such diseases retreat in slow pace. But there is a young alternative nearby, which is scarcely seen in the modern information space, yet it appears to have a strong immunity against the viruses of the totalitarian thinking. This year’s photo competition of The Day received a photo of a schoolboy Oleh Krysa, Chortkiv, Ternopil oblast, The 20th Century, which was after all selected for the photo exhibit. The photo is really strong. How can a young author have such associations?

“My photo does not have any special story. I was returning from the vegetable garden and saw the wire. I had a terrible feeling, which I could not understand at first. Only afterwards I understood what it was. I like to watch documentaries about the 20th century. And this barbwire is a symbol of the 20th century, either World War II, or Stalin’s regime and Soviet concentration camps. This is not simply an enclosed area: this is a person behind a fence. The barbwire for me is the pain of all Ukrainians, the pain of disunited families, the pain of unrealized talents and innocent people killed on different fronts.

“Incidentally, my friends and family were surprised that namely this photo was selected. They did not think it was strong. But my impressions did not leave me. I gave the photo to the head of our photography society, Oleh Petrovych Marchak, and apparently he saw the same thing as I. Den saw the same as well. That is how it came to the competition of Den. Apparently, people who think in one direction, note common signs and signals.

“I made this shot as a symbol of the 20th century. I don’t want the barbwire or militia cordons to become the symbol of today. I want to live in this country. I don’t want the barbwire to hinder relationships between Ukrainians. It is strange to see that Communists today dream to bring back the state which caused so much pain to our people. I am not a nationalist, but I don’t understand the Communists either. They want to have a new fence again. Why? We are surrounded by a free world.”

The Day’s FACT FILE

Oleh Krysa, 15, is a pupil of the Chortkiv non-specialized school, he is a member of the photography society “Chortkiv Primrose” under the gui­dance of photographer Oleh Marchak; the winner of Den’s Photo Com­pe­ti­tion in 2011 in the category “World through the children’s eyes.”