The country’s face, unretouched

“There is an adage: ‘Respect yourself to such an extent as not to give all your energy and feelings to those who do not need them.’ As far as the 18-year-old cycle of Den’s photo evidence is concerned (candid, sometimes even shocking, revealing the nation’s fate without retouching it, and often doing it with pain), one can say absolutely the opposite: these are hearts and minds, given to those who desperately need them,” says our old-time author and historian of medicine, M.D. Yurii Vilenskyi.

A host of people who have already been able to see “Ukraine’s Family Album” (our photo exhibit which is currently open at the Lavra Gallery in Kyiv) have confirmed this conclusion.

Beside a friend’s grave / Photo by Anastasia Ivanova

DEN IS ALWAYS A WELCOME GUEST

Oleksandr Kharchenko, director general at Ukrinform, an information agency, says that this year’s photo exhibit resembles a mosaic. “The handpicked photos reflect the epoch precisely. There are pathetic and sad pictures, tragic and optimistic ones,” Kharchenko adds. “The photo which we shortlisted for the award, Oleksandr Klymenko’s The Garden Deprived of Love is not among the most jovial ones, but we find it to conform to a conception. Klymenko shows an orchard where fruit is getting ripe, but there is no one to taste it. Someone must take care of the orchard. But the people have left, leaving behind their love and dreams. This gives food for thought.” Kharchenko also liked the political section of the exhibit, in particular, the photo titled Vicious Circle showing four of Ukraine’s presidents: Leonid Kravchuk, Leonid Kuchma, Viktor Yushchenko, and Petro Poroshenko. He also praised the apt captions.

Photo by Mykola TYMCHENKO, The Day

Michel Terestchenko, mayor of Hlukhiv in Sumy oblast, is so affected by what he has seen that now he is eager to organize Den’s photo exhibit in his town. “This will be for the first time, and I am sure that for the people of Hlukhiv it will become a memorable and pleasant experience,” said Terestchenko. “We live quite far from Kyiv, and it is important for our people to feel that they are not provincials, that they are worthy seeing this photo exhibit, seeing Ukraine. It is indeed the nation’s family album.”

Olena Yeskina, former legislator at the Kyiv City Council, enthuses not only over the exhibited pictures, but over Den’s book project as well. “Congratulations to the newspaper on its 20th birth anniversary! You have been serving a unique intellectual product for many years now, and we are proud to have periodicals with such a professional team in Ukraine today. Thanks to Larysa Ivshyna for having shaped this team and for doing such a great job for Ukraine. Book publishing is a separate issue deserving a special thank,” said Yeskina. “Meanwhile, the photo exhibit impressed me by showing our everyday life from absolutely different perspectives. When you look at the pictures from the war zone, showing our troops, their mothers and children, tears spring into your eyes. The photos of usual, everyday work are also wonderful. Your exhibit is terrific!”

ON UKRAINE’S “INCONSPICUOUS WRINKLES”

Political photos have always made up a strong block in our photo exhibit. On the one hand, politicians’ faces (again, unretouched) make you laugh or sometimes sigh bitterly: “That’s the way they are, what can one do about it?” These pictures captured self-assurance, surprise, and often merely confusion. In fact, a good political photo does not necessarily have to feature people. An example is a picture by Andrii Nedzelnytskyi, A Wise Instruction: a heap of maces and a board reading “Do Not Touch.” And what do the participants of the contemporary political process think of our exhibit?

Photo by Mykola TYMCHENKO, The Day

MP Taras Kremin saw a renewed nation in the competition photos. “This Ukraine is represented not only by persons who have withdrawn from our great history, and will never again be a subversive factor for the young state. I saw the eyes of the young people, our wonderful kids writing a dictation in the Ukrainian language, I saw the shining eyes of the members of the Minor Academy of Sciences, and the eyes of our boys who serve in the war zone. I saw the eyes of heroes, victors, veterans of this war, whose shoulders and lives shape the face of the Ukrainian nation,” said Kremin sharing his impressions. “Den’s photo exhibit shows inconspicuous wrinkles on the face of the 25-year-old Ukraine. Together these wrinkles and the keen mind bring clarity to the mind, cleanse conscience, and make visible the shores of our nation’s victories and successes.”

Also Kremin, who used to be legislator and chairman (in 2014) of the Mykolaiv Oblast Council, invited our exhibit to his city on St. Nicholas Day. Such a trip has already become a tradition. “In 2014-15, we helped organize Den’s photo exhibit on St. Nicholas Day,” reminisces Kremin. “And I am very grateful to Larysa Ivshyna for sponsoring the exhibit’s tour across regions.”

“THANKS TO YOU MARIUPOL WILL BE SEEN BY KYIV”

The authors of our photo chronicle, the participants of the contest, are happy that, with Den’s assistance they are able to show crucial episodes from the nation’s life to the public. Thus, this year nine works by Yevhen Sosnovskyi from Mariupol ended up on our exposition. “I feel very pleased that thanks to Den Mariupol will be seen in Kyiv and other cities of Ukraine,” said Sosnovskyi. “It must be mentioned that over the recent two years Den has been paying a lot of attention to Mariupol. The paper publishes materials which are dedicated not only to warfare near the city. In spring a new rubric was introduced, One Day from the City’s Life, and its first edition was dedicated to no other place than Mariupol. I value people’s involvement with my city.”

Photo by Mykola TYMCHENKO, The Day

Sosnovskyi’s photos are rather diverse when it comes to the plot. “I find one black-and-white picture very special: a soldier from Mariupol is awarded an order posthumously, and the award is handed in to his parents. The soldier’s name is Andrii Nazarenko. He was a volunteer first, and then joined the military reconnaissance unit. He died in one of the missions, at that time he had fought near Mariupol for two or three months already. This summer his award was handed in to his parents. We are immensely indebted to these people,” shares the photographer. “On the other hand, I have a couple of feel-good pictures which inspire hope that all will turn out well. For instance, The Happy Ones, where a father is holding a child. The father’s eyes speak volumes about what he is feeling at that moment.”

Oleksandr Klymenko, a reporter for Holos Ukrainy and holder of past year’s Golden Den Prize of Prizes, calls our exhibit “the greatest event of the year in the world of photography.” “In Ukraine, unfortunately, no other news agency or state institution makes such projects. Each photograph can be described and discussed for hours on end. People send here their best works and create a portrait of Ukraine within a year.”

According to the exhibition’s visitors, the Top 10 of the best photos looks like this:

1 Face to Face with a Friend by Anastasia Ivanova, the town of Liubashivka, Odesa oblast.

2 A Goose I Won’t Give Up by Natalia Sharomova, the city of Kyiv.

3 The Heart of the Carpathians by Yevhen Malolietka, the city of Kyiv.

4 The Starry Heavens above Us and the Moral Law within Us by Yevhen Malolietka, the city of Kyiv.

5 Do You Know Where To Go? by Oleksii Ivanov, the city of Kyiv.

6 Supply and Demand by Oleksandr Kozlovskyi, the city of Kropyvnytsky.

7 A Berehynia (Hearth Mother) by Anna Chapala, the city of Poltava.

8 The Monument to the Ukrainian-Russian Friendship by Yevhen Stepanenko, the city of Kyiv.

9 An Idyll by Artem Slipachuk, the city of Kyiv.

10 The Shell-Strewn Road by Yurii Velychko, the village of Molodizhne, Dnipropetrovsk oblast.

Let us add that holders of the first three places in the Audience Award category will get gifts from the editors: annual subscriptions to Den and our glossy supplement Route No. 1, books The Power of the Soft Sign, Return to Tsarhorod, Ukraine Incognita TOP 25, My Sister Sofia... and our “treasure chests.”

PHILOSOPHY AND A BIT OF HUMOR

It is immediately evident that along with optimistic works that traditionally receive the Audience Award, this year’s ranking also includes photos of tragic subjects. This can be said of the winner as well, the work Beside a Friend’s Grave, which pictures a soldier lying down next to the grave of his brother-in-arms. Its creator Anastasia Ivanova posted on Facebook about the photo as follows: “I hope that after looking at this picture, everyone will reflect on whether they deserve to have such a Friend...”

Another work that is among those most favored by our visitors is The Monument to the Ukrainian-Russian Friendship; impressive in its simplicity, it shows a shell sticking out of the ground. The metaphoric Shell-Strewn Road is yet another such photo.

People appreciate ironic pictures of everyday life as well. For example, they noted Supply and Demand, which despite being black-and-white, is full of emotions and very juicy. A dachshund looks back to its master with suspicion, they wander together in heavy snow, and the doggie looks as if it wants to say “Do you really know where to go?” This is the plot of another picture that has made it to the audience ranking.

In line with expectations, this year’s winner of the Golden Den Prize of Prizes Yevhen Malolietka has multiple photos in the Top 10. His works cover very diverse stories and characters. The photo The Starry Heavens above Us and the Moral Law within Us which actually won the Prize of Prizes was taken in the Donbas, but it puts at the forefront philosophy, meditation on the aforementioned moral law rather than war. Meanwhile, The Heart of the Carpathians pictures the beauty that should be protected. The photo shows Lake Synevyr from an altitude of several hundred meters.

“IT SEEMED THAT THE WATCH FACE HAD DISAPPEARED”

Among the photos singled out by Chornomorska Broadcasting Company, one made it to the Top 10 of the Audience Award as well. It was Anna Chapala’s A Berehynia (Hearth Mother). The second work to win an award from the broadcaster was Vitalii Nosach’s Daddy’s Hands. “These incredible, thoroughly sensual, sincere and open child’s eyes, this fatherly embrace which is full of love and tenderness, and a volcano of emotions,” acting president of Chornomorska Liubov Korop said of Daddy’s Hands. “The two photos we rewarded reflect people’s souls. Life and death. Love and crying. They are captivating and addicting through some magical powers. They teach us to love life more, to appreciate every minute, love those who always wait for us at home. My general impression of the photo exhibition is very nice as well. When getting my first taste of the photos submitted for this year’s competition, it seemed to me that the watch face had disappeared, and I disappeared myself in the moment that was so successfully and skillfully captured by photo artists. Thanks to such events as your show, we can contemplate and admire the genius and sincerity of our people. It offers Ukrainian photo artists an unmatched opportunity for expression of their creativity, skills and attitudes.”

Meanwhile, the Embassy of the Republic of Turkey in Ukraine awarded its prize to the photo Frontman, taken by nine-year-old Denys Hryshchuk of Kyiv. “This photo shows children and its author is a child as well. It is very symbolic for us, since Antalya hosted the Antalya EXPO exhibition this year, and childhood was one of that event’s focuses. Never forget that children are our future,” culture and information attache of the Turkish embassy Berat Yildiz said when explaining their choice, as he was very touched by the photo picturing a boy who holds the microphone for a baby who sits at the synthesizer.

Another photo of children won the Embassy of the Republic of Azerbaijan in Ukraine’s award. It was the picture Interesting Characters, done by long-standing participant of our photo contest Natalia Kravchuk. “We picked that picture because it managed to show diverse emotions of children in one scene,” said Farid Babayev, who serves as the first secretary of the Azerbaijani embassy. “Our general impression of the exhibition is very good. We regularly support this project and always welcome such cooperation. We hope it will continue.”

Photographer Oleksii Komarovskyi likes picturing birds (let us recall that our contest has long had the “Birds of Water Bodies” category). Komarovskyi is a bird watching activist, and his work White Collars won the prize awarded by the Ukrainian Society for the Protection of Birds NGO. “Den’s Photo Exhibition is something incredible! Next to portraits of our soldiers, pictures from the frontlines of the anti-terrorist operation (ATO) and images of politicians, I ascribe particular importance to avian-themed works. Of course, I could not refuse to submit my observations to Den’s contest. It was my first time, but my work still made it and immediately received an award,” Komarovskyi told us. “Photography is an incredible tool of our struggle, in particular the struggle for animal rights, as it can convey social importance of a phenomenon, show its character. However, my work is more artistic in nature as it shows the aesthetics of nature. I shot White Collars at the Sviatoshyn Lakes in the capital city. The photo shows lake gulls which live in our city, breed within its limits and are not afraid of people.”

THE GARDEN DEPRIVED OF LOVE AND CHEERFUL A GOOSE...

Every year, many schoolchildren come to visit Den’s exhibition, including those from the provinces. For example, our friends from Stelmakh Secondary School, located in the village of Litky, Brovary raion, Kyiv oblast, have already visited the photo exhibition thrice. This year, history teacher Yaroslav Satskiv came to the exhibition with students of the 8th, 9th, and 10th grades and one 7th-grade girl.

“We have long been waiting for this event!” Satskiv said. “This exhibition is not like past year’s one. The latter was focused on the ATO, but this is different. Children immediately obtained ballots. Speaking for myself, I was impressed at once with Yurii Velychko’s photo Nom de Guerre “Gal.” Meanwhile, the work Beside a Friend’s Grave was the most memorable for us. We stood in front of it for a long while, girls wept, and the photo caused a lot of emotions. I should also mention Oleksandr Klymenko’s fantastic work The Garden Deprived of Love. The children asked why the garden pictured was deprived of love. I explained that there were so many apples there, and they had all gone to rot since nobody had picked them. The apple tree yielded a great harvest, but no one has any need for its fruits. Can you imagine how it feels to be totally unneeded?”

Schoolchildren liked cheerful pictures as well, such as Natalia Sharomova’s A Goose I Won’t Give Up or dynamic images of birds. “We had a boy with problematic behavior on this trip. But you just had to see him at the show! He ran about, pointed to various photos, and shouted: ‘Look, what a photo is here!’” – the teacher recalled with a smile. “The winners’ stand was interesting to see too. After all, we have a mobile photo gallery made of works we saw at your contest, and the photo Callsign Sokil is present both in our gallery and on that stand.”

Our friends departed for Litky with gifts of postcards and newspapers.

“DEN’S PHOTO IS A KIND OF TALISMAN FOR MY BOYS”

Den has long been friends with Kyiv’s Secondary School No. 180 as well. Teacher Natalia Kuryliak often uses materials from our books and newspapers in the classroom and, of course, she could not miss the photo exhibition. She came to the event with five homeroom classes where she teaches arts, foreign literature and Christian ethics.

“We have had a lot of impressions! Children actively voted, pictured photos with their gadgets and then discussed them with parents and friends at school. They intend to come to the exhibition once more, this time with their families,” Kuryliak shared with us. “The girls liked the work A Goose I Won’t Give Up since they themselves have younger brothers and sisters, therefore the work turned out to be so memorable. Oleksandr Khomenko’s Gloves for the Mom was highly popular as well.”

School No. 180 uses Den’s photos in its daily work. “Thanks to your photos, we were able to create Two Wars installation, which put side-by-side images of World War Two and the current Ukrainian-Russian war for the liberation of eastern Ukraine. My homeroom has a Den’s photo hanging there which pictures a mother welcoming home her son. It is a kind of talisman for my boys,” Kuryliak told us.

The school’s students are now re-reading James Mace’s books published in our Library series as they are preparing for the Holodomor Memorial Day. “While visiting a book fair, Den’s stand drew my attention. I then bought your Extracts. Having found them interesting, I showed them to my colleagues at school. I went on to acquire Ukraine Incognita and “Armor-Piercing Political Writing” series, so that My Sister Sofia..., your newest book, is the only one I do not have at the moment,” the teacher said recalling her first meeting with Den. “Your articles make it possible to get children interested, they begin to see the world differently. It is difficult to find such a concentrated material elsewhere. Your books are like pilgrims, constantly changing hands in my school and coming back.”

Den even encourages the school’s students to volunteer for civic causes. After our Dnipro correspondent Vadym Ryzhkov reported on problems of the Mechnikov Dnipropetrovsk Oblast Clinical Hospital, the students collected 1,000 hryvnias themselves for the purchase of a defibrillator and sent them to the institution.

Such stories are a source of comfort for us, since they mean that Den’s school works, and we will soon see how its graduates are building up an independent Ukraine.

Incidentally, as long as the photo exhibition was running in Kyiv, people kept asking us where it would go next this year. We are pleased to know that we already have invitations to Hlukhiv (Sumy oblast) and Mykolaiv. It all gives hope that our society is willing to accept meanings that we are bringing. Perhaps not all Ukraine is like that, but it is highly important that such “islands of understanding” do exist. And to receive such a feedback, we are ready to tour cities and towns of this country. So stay tuned for our announcements...