Orange Revolution in Pictures

Oles Obertas, director of the Ukrainian Samizdat Archive Museum, describes the documentary exhibition entitled “Orange Revolution. One Year Later” as an attempt to present an accurate portrayal of the events and moods of the Orange Revolution through photographs, symbols, and slogans. The exhibit is on display at the Kyiv-based publishing house Smoloskyp. Obertas says that the main concept of the exhibition is both to remember the participants of the Orange Revolution and familiarize the public with the members of the Ukrainian Helsinki Group of 1976-2001. He believes that it is thanks to the revolutionary steps of such individuals as Vasyl Stus, Vyacheslav Chornovil, Valeriy Marchenko, Mykhailo Horyn, and many others that the democratization process began in society, eventually exploding into a revolution.

“The focus of the exhibition is not on the two frontrunners of the elections, but on ordinary people and their emotions,” says Obertas, adding: “After all, today’s government of one color will give way to a government of a different color tomorrow, whereas people will never be the same as they were in November and December of last year.” The display features revolutionary photos both from Obertas’s personal collection and photos by professional photographers provided courtesy of the educational organization Galactic College and the Kyiv Association of Photographic Artists. Also on display are posters, flags, ribbons, blankets, headgear, plastic foam mattresses that were used as bedding by the protesters, books and photo albums about the revolution, and, of course, the notorious “American felt boots.” Oles Obertas complains that the cheapest book about the Orange Revolution has a price tag of 30 hryvnias, while photo albums are priced at 200 or even 400 hryvnias, a sum that most of the people who stood on Independence Square can ill afford. “This is why they come to see faces and look into their eyes, find their friends and themselves, and relive everything all over again. After all, today many of us probably feel different about the government, but in those moments people felt like they were creating history and were happy,” says Obertas.

The exhibit continues until the end of December. Obertas then plans to expand it by adding more information about dissidents, the opposition movement in Ukraine, samizdat materials, and, of course, items relating to the Orange Revolution. He also plans to create at least a small research center, which is long overdue, Obertas believes. Students of the Journalism Institute have used the museum’s materials to write their research papers and diploma theses, while Canadian scholars turned to the museum for assistance when they were writing a book on musicians’ impact on the Orange Revolution.