“That is exactly what patriotic education is”

In two weeks, more than five thousand people had visited Sumy City Gallery to see the best pictures of the 18th Den’s International Photo Contest. The exhibition was a huge success, as people of a variety of professions and ages came to see it, and there were more than 20 organized tours, according to Dmytro Yevdokymchyk, deputy director of Sumy Promotion Agency at Sumy City Council. The visitors were eager to leave many notes in the guestbook about their impressions – and yet not a single piece of criticism there.

Tetiana Holovko, deputy head of Sumy Regional Council, also believes that Den’s Days in Sumy were quite a success. “I heard a lot of positive feedback from people about the photo exhibition, and I am very impressed by it myself,” says Holovko. “I especially liked the work Daddy’s Hands by Vitalii Nosach, which depicts a father officer holding a baby. In general, Den’s Days are informationally and emotionally intense and they have a major influence in terms of patriotic education in Sumy and the region. In that regard, the exhibition and the books that everyone could buy were especially helpful. We need to have such events take place.” By the way, Tetiana also took part in the “Donate Den’s Library Books to Your Old School” campaign, buying the set of Den’s Library books for Petro Kalnyshevsky Secondary School No. 1 in Romny.

Another noteworthy “teaching” moment: the most grateful visitors of Den’s exhibition in Sumy are schoolchildren. The gallery staff reported that children were very happy to vote for the best photo, and very often they even chose two – one from the ATO zone or related to the war, and the other with nature. One photo that the students liked in particular, according to the gallery staff, is The Heart of the Carpathians.

“Although my pupils are only 7th-graders, they understood the topics of the exhibition, and were imbued with its spirit. I even tasked the students with a small review to write at home, and they gladly supported this idea. This is pleasing,” says Tetiana Makarenko, teacher of Ukrainian Language and Literature at School No. 12 (and Den asks to send these reviews to our office – we will publish the most interesting ones!). “We are grateful to the organizers for these topics of the event. The photos allowed our children to see life in its different shapes. There are happiness and Ukrainian traditions, and there’s the tragedy of war…” Tetiana personally singled out the work by Bohdan Poshyvailo And There...? “The photograph shows two girls in Ukrainian traditional clothes peering into a gap. This gap for me is the association with an outlook to the future, perhaps a hope of a better life in our country,» says Makarenko.

Tetiana Mylentieva, 8-V class teacher at Sumy Specialized School No. 9, admits that children were initially reluctant upon her invitation to visit the photo exhibition. But the experience at the city gallery has completely changed their minds. “I was impressed by the children: they were eager to vote, they even took several ballots to promote the best photos, they took pictures with their phones of the works they liked... Mostly it was the works that depicted young people and children. When I asked if they wanted to visit more exhibitions like that, they said yes,” says Mylentieva. “I judge from the children’s perspective: it is good to have such exhibitions. Maybe the students themselves will participate in one someday. Thank you for organizing this event.” As for her own preference, the teacher liked the cheerful picture The Scooter Princess by Yevhen Malolietka and two touching ones: A Brother for a Brother by Vitalii Nosach and Strength and Tenderness by Oleksii Lebid, a photo of an ATO fighter braiding a girl’s hair. “In general, all photos are excellent, it was very difficult to choose one best. It would be good to have more of such exhibitions!” concludes Mylentieva.

Strength and Tenderness has become a favorite for Iryna Korotia, teacher from the School No. 22. She said that children were very willing to vote for the best picture and were very responsible at voting. She says that her 9th-graders mostly selected photos on military topics. “Such events are very helpful for the pupils. I think schoolchildren should attend them. That is exactly what patriotic education is,” says Korotia.

“A very emotional one” was the exhibition according to Iryna Shulzhenko, 7-A class teacher at School No. 26. She watched the students as they viewed the photographs. “At first the children were running around, looking on things, calling each other when they saw something interesting. And then they started paying more attention to the pictures. And then I noticed that some children had tears in their eyes, and some of them were openly crying, because they say “poor doggy” at a picture with puppies, or because they saw a touching photo of a soldier... and they laughed very much at a photo which caught the emotions of Petro Poroshenko when he was reading some messages on the phone – Viacheslav Ratynskyi’s work Hey!” remembers Shulzhenko.

And for one particular 7th-grader, this exhibition seems to have become a turning point. “One girl, Kateryna Kochula, came to me after the weekend and said: ‘I decided that I will be a photographer.’ [As a side note: Den’s photo contest has a nomination “The World through Children’s Eyes” for participants under 18; the conditions of participation can be found at https://day.kyiv.ua/uk/content/hvii-mizhnarodnyy-fotokonkurs-gazety-den] She has already shown me her photographs, which she edited herself, and she has informed her parents of the decision which fascinated her so.” Shulzhenko herself remembered best the photo of “a soldier, as if rising from the ashes.” “There is a picture in which a soldier stands, perhaps, after the explosion, in a kind of hole, and behind him the sky is in clouds – that one impressed me the most,” says Shulzhenko. The teacher concludes: “Such events for children are really needed. In general, I always say to parents and children: the more you see and communicate, the better choice you will make in life.”

The audience award of Sumy citizens is as follows: the first place – The Heart of the Carpathians by Yevhen Malolietka, the second – Beside a Friend’s Grave by Anastasia Ivanova, the third – The Puzzle by Yevhen Malolietka.

This Friday, February 10, Den’s photo exhibition opens in Dnipro. The opening will be attended by Den’s editor-in-chief Larysa Ivshyna. We are waiting for citizens and visitors of Dnipro at the Museum of Ukrainian Painting (5a, Troitska Square) at 5 p.m.!