An important moment for reflection

LUTSK — “Where’s the honey?” I couldn’t help recalling this caption to one of The Day’s photographs when I saw the crowds of people hurrying to attend the opening of the exhibit of the newspaper’s international photography competition at Volyn National Lesia Ukrainka University’s research library. The joke is not far from the truth: like last year, when the photo exhibit was held in Volyn for the first time, the exhibit this year drew capacity audiences.

Lutsk does not often see such emotionally-laden cultural events. People in the Volyn region still recall the high level of photography, perhaps the most popular of all the arts, which was seen at last year’s exhibit. This year’s show opened in a surprisingly warm and emotional atmosphere. An album containing the best photographs from previous years, presented by The Day’s editor in chief Larysa Ivshyna, caused quite a stir. Professor Ihor Kotsan, rector of Volyn National Lesia Ukrainka University, noted that he sometimes prefers looking at photos rather than paintings.

During her opening speech, Ivshyna said: “Photographs correctly record that which is difficult to record: time. This is the way we opened up to the world in 1991...Here is the first students’ protest action, which many have already forgotten...Here are the coal miners marching on Kyiv; you can see them sitting and clanking their helmets in front of the Verkhovna Rada; here some of them are in hospital with terrible burns...The pictures show not only pain and losses but also a radiant and promising Ukraine. Foreign ambassadors, who always visit The Day’s photo exhibits, say that they have discovered Ukraine through these photos. When the Japanese foreign ministry invited me to visit Japan recently, I asked them to include a visit to a photography exhibit in my itinerary. I saw one in Tokyo, which told me a lot about Japan and the Japanese,” she said.

This reminds me of what Volodymyr Karpuk, an MP and a well-known doctor from Volyn, said after visiting The Day’s exhibit last year at Volyn University:

“A celebrity once said that history does not have a waste-paper basket. A moment passes and as soon as you look away, it disappears forever. This exhibit is the glance that preserves history. It is an unexpected glimpse that brings well-known events closer to us.”

Many students visiting the exhibit took pictures on their cell phones to record their impressions and share them with their peers. Two Olenkas, Olenka Rumin and Olenka Bortnyk, both students at the Faculty of International Relations, spent a lot of time looking at pictures with a pronounced social theme. They stood gazing at photographs about the Holodomor. Then they examined Natalia Kravchuk’s picture Girls.

“We are stunned to see how the penal institution changed the girls’ looks! Different eyes show the same hopelessness and despondency; life seems to have left its indelible imprint on them, and you feel like protesting. We especially liked the black-and-white shots, particularly The Old Man and the Sea by Yevhen Kompaniichenko. It is more difficult to reveal the soul of the person posing in black-and-white photographs than color ones.”

Valerii BELOV, head of the university photography club Spalakh and member of the Union of Photo Artists and Film Makers of Ukraine:

“I am going to take the members of our photography club to The Day’s show. The exhibit is an example of high-quality photo reporting with elements of art. To a photo reporter and a newsman this show is a higher school of education. But I think that this time there are too many political photos that one could well headline as ‘spot photo reporting.’ I always look for Borys Korpusenko’s submissions. His Two Truths, which was awarded the Grand Prix last year, is a very topical work, the best example of high-profile reporting in the past 20 years.”

Andrii HORDIICHUK, director, Institute of Arts:

“This lovely and very Ukrainian exhibit made a colossal impression on me. I am amazed to see that it is not just photographers from the capital who know how to capture a moment but photographers from small Ukrainian villages. Cancan- 2007, You Will Be Visited by a Dental Cavity Tonight, and Where’s the Honey? are all great shots. In Ruslan Kaniuka’s photo An Unexpected Gesture, our president seems to be bowing down to war and labor veterans, when he is actually bending to pick up a medal that fell on the ground. These pictures benefited greatly from their extremely witty captions. One phrase — and the picture comes to life! A caption can often turn a picture into something artistic and inimitable. I always want to say, ‘Encore!’ Who are these wise people who have such an acute sense of humor that they can caption a picture with such witty subtexts?”

Oksana TYMOSHCHUK, university graduate and teacher at High School No. 21 in Lutsk:

“I came to see The Day photo exhibit because I had heard so much about it. I could not miss this opportunity because I am not going to Kyiv. Now I am pleased to say that I have also seen it. I’ve never seen anything like this before. It seemed that I had an entirely different picture of Ukraine before seeing this exhibit. I liked Calling the Boss and A Good Little Girl. Photographs are just still moments, but your photographs are moments on which you reflect for more than a moment.”

THE DAY EDITOR’S VOLYNIAN DAY

The venerable assembly in the conference hall, usually the venue of the university academic board’s sessions, greeted The Day’s editor with a big poster reading “Larysa Ivshyna, welcome to Volyn National University!” Full and associate professors, and various deans and directors of the university’s institutes, well known both in Ukraine and internationally, listened with interest to the editor’s scholarly paper on “Identity and Modernization in Ukraine.”

Shortly before the academic board’s session, as The Day’s photo exhibit was being opened, the first rector of Volyn State University, Prof. Anatolii Svidzynsky, took the floor to share his impressions from the articles Ms. Ivshyna published in the newspaper after her visit to Japan. These impressions also prompted her to broach a subject that is vital to Ukraine. Prof. Svidzynsky said that her articles “made his day.”

“I like reading clever texts, but I find it hard to mention any articles this year that struck me more than hers. Ms. Ivshyna remarked on some common features of mentality, faiths, customs, and traditions between us and the Japanese.”

In her speech The Day’s editor said: “Ukrainians still have to be taught to understand the culture and legacy that they have inherited. We still have much to do to discover our own history and then exchange intellectual achievements. Universities are the engines and guides of intellectual progress.” The guest speaker also recalled that in Kharkiv University she once saw a very old map of Ukraine divided into educational, not military, districts with universities as centers. “It is also important today that universities be leaders in maintaining the civil image.”

Tellingly, Liudmyla Sokurianska, head of the Sociology Department of Kharkiv National University, has been invited to Volyn National University to give a series of lectures on this subject.

“As I heard today from the paper delivered by The Day’s editor, we still have a long way to go to instill civil identity in today’s young people. Unfortunately, our surveys show that not all young people have this kind of well-established civil identity. A considerable proportion of students polled all over Ukraine — almost 40 percent, can you imagine that? — are determined to leave Ukraine because they have no opportunities here to realize themselves. These are figures from 2004. Now we are completing a new survey that shows that this percentage, this level of emigration mood, is diminishing, while civil identity is on the rise. That’s very good because this is the intellectual potential of our nation. There will be no restructuring, transformation, or modernization if we squander this potential,” Sokurianska said.

“Education ministry officials often tell us, teachers, to conduct educational work based on the national idea. I ask them: tell me what the national idea is today in Ukraine? I think Ms. Ivshyna is right in saying that we should seek the basis of our national idea and the values that are shared by the majority of the population. Unfortunately, the values that predominate today do not foster integration. However, young people both in the east and the west are managing to find a common language; they want to unite and know how to. Sometimes politicians forget about the people and begin tackling their own problems by dividing us into easterners and westerners. But I now have a unique opportunity to work in many of Ukraine’s national universities, and I can see and compare trends. Volyn students ask me what the difference is between them and their Kharkiv counterparts. There is no difference at all! They are as young as you are and have the same aspirations.”

After delivering her paper The Day’s editor was showered with questions, a clear indication that modernization and identity are burning questions today. Ms. Ivshyna’s paper will be published in Volyn University’s almanac, to acquaint wider circles of those who are interested in Ukraine’s unity and prosperity. Finally, Prof. Kotsan, the university rector, awarded the guest speaker the university’s first Honorary Citation.

FUTURE MINISTERS IDENTIFY “GREAT UKRAINIANS”

As part of The Day’s visit to the Volyn region, there was an open lecture at Volyn University by Yevhen Marchuk. In his introduction, Prof. Kotsan chose not to enumerate his many titles but simply called him a “great Ukrainian.” More than 400 students in the packed hall listened to his lecture entitled “Contemporary Challenges to Ukraine’s National Security” with the rapt attention that only the most experienced professors can command. They also took note of the lecturer’s excellent Ukrainian and his profound knowledge of the material. The students later waited patiently to ask Marchuk a question.

There was no end to the questions. Future political scientists were interested in whether Ukraine was right to dispose of its nuclear weapons. Vitalii Kudenchuk, a 1st- year student at the Law Faculty, asked: how is Ukraine fighting international organized crime and what role does our country play in Interpol? Olesia Nikolaichuk from the Faculty of International Relations asked: what methods can Ukraine apply to neutralize Russia’s influence on Ukrainian policies? Every answer turned into a mini-lecture because, as Marchuk noted, thanking the students for their inquisitiveness, their questions were on the level of future ministers.

“The lecture was in line with the university’s tradition of extending invitations several times a year to a well-known Ukrainian personality who is not only a professional in his field, but can also serve as a role model for young people,” said Anatolii Shvab, dean of the History Faculty. “But we don’t often get visits from such experienced statesmen as Mr. Marchuk. His wide-ranging paper compared and analyzed the processes that we could only watch but which had an impact on the life of ordinary Ukrainians. The paper is fundamental and integrative: it spotlights the main problems that today are often an object of speculation by politicians. It was simply interesting, proof of which was the attention of 400 impartial students.”

The lecture made an indelible impression on Prof. Svidzynsky, the first rector of Volyn State University:

“The intellectual power, professionalism, erudition, and analytical thinking of Yevhen Marchuk are unprecedented. I think this is a person whose viewpoint Ukraine needs to know. I have known him since I worked in the Crimea. I saw him address difficult issues in a well-balanced and consistent manner. I deeply respect this gentleman for a number of his traits. We have a lot of wise and strong-willed people, but few of them combine these qualities like Mr. Marchuk. This is why we have so many problems that are understood well but are practically unsolved. I wish him physical health that will be as powerful as his intellect. It seems to me that willpower and intellect is what Ukraine needs today. But this gathering also showed that we have clever young people. It was generally first-year students who asked questions (and what questions!). This means that there is a change of generations: every succeeding generation thinks more freely, more independently, and more actively. This change is long overdue because there are many people who have exhausted themselves. So we are pinning our hopes not only on such outstanding personalities as Yevhen Marchuk but also on the young intellectual ‘guard’ (it’s great that it heard him), which will undoubtedly shape Ukraine’s face in about 10 years.