“Nobody helped these children in time”

A photo exhibit “Every face has its own story” is operating at the Art Promotion Fund Gallery from October 26 and will last till November 2. Photographers Vladyslav Musiienko and Mykhailo Koryshov visited five educational colonies, where children serve their sentences. Of course, the photos they shot are saddening: photographers showed the lives of prisoners and how teenagers save themselves through art. The portraits of teachers of these children, their written works about good and bad actions in their lives are also presented at the exhibit. At the same time, all the photo characters are connected with their past, which they want to forget and their future, which they are scared of.

“While visiting colonies I talked to children a lot, played football with them. In spite of their complicated lives, these children have always surprised me with their sincere perception of life. I think, nobody helped them, nobody guided them on how to behave themselves with dignity. Many of them were deprived of grown-ups’ support and proper upbringing,” said photographer Mykhailo Koryshov.

According to the authors of the photographs, it is wrong to think that only children from the lower class and asocial families are put in these correctional institutions. Here you can meet those, who have never slept on clean sheets before as well as those who used to go to private schools. Lack of support and understanding from grown-ups at the right moment is what unites these children.

“Kids are not born thieves. Researching these children’s life stories helps us realize that there are numerous ways to influence a child, and imprisonment is the most expensive solution of the problem both for the society and the kids. We believe that rehabilitation and intergration of children, who had conflicts with law is possible and it has to be implemented in communities and families where they grew up. Imprisonment of a child has to be an exceptional measure that would be applied only when a serious crime was committed. That is why it is necessary to work with communities and families, and they have to work with children. This problem belongs to juvenile law, which is not applied in Ukraine, unfortunately,” said Yukie Mokuo, representative of United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

The purpose of the exhibit is to draw society’s attention to the fact that these children are waiting for support and an ability to live a decent life in future.