Tour around Kyiv within one room

In the exhibition “Kyiv. It Happened Not Long Ago” at “Ukrinform” premises Kyiv-based photographer Volodymyr Falin managed to show his hometown in such a way, that visitors could move in space and time without leaving one room.

The total of 60 photographs, mostly black-and-white, taken in the period between the 1970s and mid-1990s, show the city from different angles. After all, author’s favorite spots for shooting are still the highest points of skyscrapers, lofts, and skylights.

The collection of the photographs made the impression that the author deliberately chose those photos in which Kyiv from the past most clearly contrasts with Kyiv we see now. The result of this competition is not in favor of modern city. An example of this is the photo that depicts the entrance to the courtyard with a beautiful arch in Horodetska Street. It has stucco molding in modern style. One had to really love his city to put such beauty not on a facade but hide it inside to make it more original, place it where it would be seen only by a lucky traveler or just the residents of that building. Today this architectural treasure can be seen only by very few people because this courtyard is now closed behind the gates with a secured lock.

The city has changed many times before Falin’s eyes. You can easily see it through his photos. The number of cars in the metro trains increased, monuments changed, the hotel “Moscow” got the new name “Ukraine.” The artist has many interesting memories associated with each of such changes. He gladly shared those memories with the visitors of the exhibition. Before, there was a bania (sauna) on the Lva Tolstoho Square, which was the favorite place for many residents of Kyiv. Then it was taken down and a bank was built on that spot. After that the photographer had an idea that it was a pun. Only the ending of the word, that defined the institution, has changed but the idea remained the same. Before people could do their laundry there and now money are being laundered here.

There are also very surprising photographs in this collection. When you look through the eyes of the photographer from the belfry of Saint Sophia Church, at least two things seem unusual: there are lots of trees and very few cars. While telling the story of this photograph, the artist touched upon the issue of ecology and preserving of historical monuments. For a short time in the past tourist buses would stop near the Saint Sophia Square. But city officials tried hard to move them to another location, because the exhaust gases have negative impact on the state of frescoes. But if drivers came anyway, they were asked to stop the engine. Today there is much more exhaust gas around because the number of cars has increased enormously. Now this issue is more topical than it used to be back then. This provokes a question: why today nobody cares that much about the condition of the Saint Sophia Church?

Some moments from life of the city pass by, some change and people want to remember it the way it used to be with the charm and atmosphere of those years that passed in leisure pace. Forty years in the scale of a human life is a lot, but in the scale of life of a city like Kyiv, it is very little. But over this time the life in it has changed so much that it is interesting, but scary to think how it will look in the next 40 years.