On Saturday, July 29, at 4 PM, as part of the Donbas Studies project by IZOLYATSIA, the IZONE Creative Community will host an opening of the photo exhibition We Are Alive by students of the Youth Media Centre of the frontline city of Marinka, with the support of the Kids to Kids charity fund. The exhibition unites the works by eight teenagers aged 14-16 living in Marinka and Krasnogorovka, witnesses of the destruction of Ukrainian cities in the Donbas region.
The opening will include a workshop by the Kyiv-based photographer Oleg Kulai-Kulaychuk titled The “masterpiece” button, or how to make a hopeless shot successful, at 5 PM. The photographer will explain in simple words the basics of photography and photo processing in Adobe Lightroom.
The photo project We Are Alive is about children torn from their childhood and placed in the context of war. They return to familiar places – schools, homes, but they have become a different reality. All things familiar and dear remain in the past. Values and goals have changed. The present frightens with its contrasts and constant threats. In the photos, the children are captured against the background of the destroyed walls that once surrounded and protected their happiness, hopes and plans.
In the meantime, fights go on for the fourth year, and the childhood of these teenagers and other children is constantly attacked by weapons of war. “There are a lot of talented children in the frontline Marinka region, and they cannot leave their homes, as their parents are not welcome anywhere else. In general, people find it difficult to leave their homes and go someplace unknown”, says Oleg Tkachenko, founder and head of the youth media centre in Marinka. The Media Centre was created to support the children with the existing means, giving them the opportunity to express themselves through photography. The centre is currently planning to open a school of journalism. During the exhibition, visitors will have the opportunity to provide financial support to the media centre in order to buy necessary photographic equipment, or to donate used equipment to students. Thus, more children will be given a chance to learn a new skill which can become a profession for some of them.
The exhibition will also include an installation by the Kyiv art group CoolArt that introduces a reflection of our perception of life in the front-line zone. CoolArt art group (Olga Gurina and Oleg Kulai-Kulaychuk) gives a special attention to the utterance and narrative in the artwork based on the plot image, context and subjectivity of the viewer’s perception.
The exhibition is organised by the Charity foundation Mission Breathing of Hopeimplementing grant projects to provide psychological and humanitarian assistance to the residents of Marinka and Krasnogorovka. Project partner – Kids to Kids Charity Fund specialised in targeted assistance to orphans, families with seriously ill children and children affected by the war in the East.
Exhibition participants:
Liza Naumenko, Anastasiya Trofimenko, Ivanna Zaklevskaya, Alexandra Olesova, Lyudmila Lysenko, Lera Zubareva, Ruslana Abrosimova, Miroslava Trofimenko.
Exhibition schedule
July 29: 4 PM – 8 PM
July 30 – August 8: 12 PM – 8 PM
Free entry.
Address:
IZONE, 4th floor
8 Naberezhno-Luhova Street
Contact Information:
Anna Ledeneva
+380 50 852 35 23