“EURO: Two countries – one history”

The Museum of History of Kyiv has opened an exhibit which presents 80 works by four photographers from Ukraine and Poland. Each photo master is original, but all of them are united by the topic of sport. The Pole Adam Nurkiewicz is the founder of a sports photos agency, whereas his fellow photographer Mariusz Forecki works in the sphere of documentation. With the help of his lens he draws attention to the changeable reality around the championship, not inside of it. Ukrainian Mykhailo Chernichkin has been involved in sports photography for over 40 years. It was his brainchild to hold an exhibit dedicated to Euro-2012. His son Kostiantyn Chernichkin (a participant of Den’s Photo Exhibit) follows in his father’s footsteps.

“Photographers are above all documentarians. It is important for them to capture the moment,” curator of the project Oleksandr MKHYNIA notes, “This exhibit is dedicated to the history of the championship. Out of 200 works we selected the ones that fall in the general narration, but at the same time remain bright.”

“I show things which interest and excite me. The way football players are playing has not changed much over 10 years,” Polish photographer Mariusz Forecki said, “Apart from the colors on their jerseys. But the environment and surrounding people do change. Therefore I try to capture how other people live through these days. There were really many police officers on the days of the championship in Poland, and transport and shops were not operating in the regular regime. What if someone needed to go to work? How were people supposed to get there? This is what I wanted to tell with the help of my photo works.”

Adam Nurkiewicz always changes the lens. It is either a butterfly he photographs, or a stadium. Chernichkins’ works are really emotional. Having traveled across all the cities where the championship was held, the photo masters made a family story of their own. Mykhailo intends to close the topic of football by this exhibit and switch to basketball.

It is hard to create integrity of narration, taking into account the diversity of the views. However, there is specific poetry in making a general canvas by the four authors. Incidentally, music made the impressions from the photo exhibit even brighter. One could hear the melodies played at the championship. According to the organizers, the visual and auditory senses will help football buffs move back to the atmosphere of Euro-2012, in order to experience the emotions of the football feast once again.