See you in the city of freedom!

The Photo Exhibit Den 2014 is to open at noon on November 21 at the Odesa Museum of Literature. Den’s editor-in-chief Larysa Ivshyna will present the exposition as well as the new Ukraine Incognita. TOP 25 books and the photo album People of the Maidan, the latest in the Newspaper Den’s Library series. At 1 p.m. the editor-in-chief will meet the cultural and educational public of Odesa. The Odesa exposition will include about 150 pictures, winners at the 16th Den’s International Photo Contest. They were selected out of approximately 2,000 photo works sent from all over Ukraine by not only professional photographers, but also amateurs. On the whole, there are six nominations: Events; Personalities; Ukrainian World; Life as It Is; World as Seen by Children; and Building a New Country Together, a special UNDP nomination. It will be recalled that blackthorn was chosen as symbol of this year’s exhibit. Thanks to the Den photos, spectators will have an opportunity to recall and review the “thorny path” that we have all had to pass in the past year as well as to see Ukraine “warts and all” and the Ukrainians who have learned to defend themselves.

“Den’s photo exhibit is broadening the current Ukrainian context, this is exactly what Odesa needs today,” says Serhii Savchenko, deputy chairman of the Odesa oblast branch of the National League of Ukrainian Artists. “It is very important now to bring and show the rest of Ukraine in Odesa. The two key themes of this year’s Den Photo Exhibit are the Maidan and the Donbas armed conflict. I am sure Odesites will be able to see these from a new angle. In general, in my view, broadening the context is the leitmotif of Den’s all activities. It is Ukraine’s intellectual elite that contributes to this newspaper. The paper’s political analysis always refers the reader to the past and to the broad European context. It pleases me that there is an analytical approach even on the ‘Culture’ page. Documentary photography is not painting or poetry with their inherent figures and metaphors – it is, above all, the most convincing argument whose value is particularly high today. I think Ukraine should speak to Odesa simply and frankly. Although presentation is usually a monolog by form, I am sure Den’s Photo Exhibit will trigger a fruitful and interesting dialog. The Odesa public will be represented quite broadly: there will be intellectuals, teachers, students, and artists among the visitors. Odesa has noticeably changed in the past year. The city has still more revealed its European nature which separates us from the blinkered ‘Russian World.’ I mean, above all, plasticity and openness to the world and absence of aggression and prejudices. The spirit of freedom has made itself clearer in the last while. I am convinced that many Odesites will show interest in Den’s Photo Exhibit.”

By tradition, every visitor can play the role of a jury member, selecting what he or she thinks is the best photograph. The winner of the Odesa audiences prize will be announced on the exhibit’s closing day.

The exhibit will be held from November 22 until December 23 at 2 Lanzheronivska St. We invite all Odesites to visit the exposition!