Early morning on February 24 Russia began the full scale military invasion to Ukraine. They call it “special demilitarization operation”, but in fact it’s a real war in the middle of Europe. Russian troops launched missile strikes against peaceful Ukrainian cities from various directions, including the temporarily occupied Donbas and Crimea and the northeastern region. They target both military objects and peaceful homes, orphanages and kindergartens. The nuclear power plant in Zaporizhzhya, the biggest in Europe, was under Russian attack.
“Ukrainian photographers bravely doing their job in the Ukrainian cities during the war. Now they are not only professional journalists and photographers — they are citizens who capture their beloved places ruined by Russian troops and bombs as well as people standing fearlessly for their land, homes and families. What’s more — Ukrainians are fighting now for peace in the whole of Europe,” says Kateryna Radchenko, director and curator of the International Festival of Contemporary Photography Odesa Photo Days, who is actively seeking for opportunities to reflect the local situation in the international cultural arena. “Photography is a powerful tool and media to tell the truth about what is going on in the centre of Europe now.”
The photographs show crushed municipal and civil buildings, vehicles and bridges; soldiers and ordinary citizens with all kinds of weapons and Molotov cocktails; carrying the deceased ones and rescuing domestic animals; rolling suitcases on ruined streets, fire and smoke in snowy trenches. The authors of the photos are the local street photography flagships Michael Palinchak, Yuriy Yurchenko, Sergiy Illyashenko, Volodymyr Petrov (all Kiev), Pavlo Dorohoi (Kharkiv) and Slava Ratynski (Zhytomyr). In addition to the photos, video reviews of the Odessa Photo Days 2020 festival and Ukrainian female artists are on display.
Besides the Ukrainian authors, the exhibition also features fresh shots from the front line by their Estonian counterpart Dmitry Kotjuh. Järva Teataja photographer Kotjuh was recognized in 2015 as an author of the best Estonian press photo by the Estonian Newspaper Association, and last year he was awarded the 5th Class Order of the White Star – an Estonian State Decoration. At the moment Kotjuh is working in the ranks of the publication of Postimees media.
The exhibition and its organization offer, in particular, moral support to the Ukrainian photographic community, which is also asking to help Ukrainian army, humanitarian missions or refugees. One opportunity is to support a charity foundation “The Depths of Arts” (DOFA FUND) via MTÜ Okapi EE891700017003578645, keyword “for Ukraine”.
DOFA FUND
https://uaculture.org/organisations/charitable-foundation-the-depths-of-art-dofa-fund/
Ukrainian partners: festival “Odesa Photo Days”, Ukrainian photography community “Untitled”.
Okapi Gallery thanks Craftrag print studio for supporting the exhibition.
The exhibition will remain open at Okapi Gallery until April 30, 2022 and can be visited Mon-Fri 11:00 – 18:00, Sat 11:00-16:00 at Niguliste 2, Tallinn. Special events taking place within the exhibition will also be announced on an ongoing basis.
