Themes by tag: culture

Valentyna Tkach is a third-generation weaver. Her mother was taught this craft by her grandfather, and her mother taught Valentyna herself.

When the full-blown began, Valentyna’s son was mobilized. Later, he asked his mother to raise money for a military vehicle. The woman chose her best products and started selling them on social media. The car was purchased very quickly. Valentyna decided that her carpets could help buy necessary things for Ukrainian defenders. So she continued to put her work up for sale and donate the proceeds to the army. Now the weaver is working on raising money for a thermal imaging drone.

• culture
• military
• volunteers
• women

The idea comes from Illia Shpolianskyi, an anti-terrorist operation in 2014-15 veteran and father of three. It was after returning from the war in 2015 that Illia came up with the idea to create a comic that would help children understand their parents who had to defend the country and support parents adapting to civilian life.

With the full-scale invasion outbreak, Illia rejoined the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and created and led the the Angry Birds combined strike UAV unit. In 2022, the NGO “Association of ATO Veterans and People with Disabilities” submitted a comic book project to the Ukrainian Veterans Fund competition and got support, enabling its publishing in a printed run of 2,500 copies and sent to military families free of charge. Besides reading the story, the comic’s owners can also complete a quest and receive a pins set depicting the main characters as an additional gift. The project got hundreds of positive reviews from parents and children. The comics are now released digitally, and the team is looking for funding to make additional copies in print and is working on the next story, “My mom returned from the war.”

• children
• culture
• military

21-year-old Daniil Melnyk studied at the Lviv Military Academy. He used to be a deputy platoon leader and defended the Kyiv region from the enemy at the beginning of the all-out invasion. In the Borodiansky district, he was ambushed but took the fights with other combatants. Getting his hands wounded, he couldn’t even bandage them. He gave his ammunition to a comrade. Then he lost consciousness. Two days later, the Russians found him and took him prisoner. He was first held in Ukraine, then in Belarus, Russia, and the occupied Crimea. On April 21, 2022, Daniel was released from captivity.

He lost both his feet, his left palm, and 4 fingers on his right hand. Now the defender wants to go back to active duty service. He recently took part in the Sculpture series photo project.

For reference: Last December, Ukrainian photographer Marta Syrko founded the Sculpture series photo project. The protagonists of her photographs are Ukrainian defenders who suffered as a result of Russia’s full-blown invasion of Ukraine. (These are soldiers who were injured, got burned, or had their limbs amputated.) Civilians affected by the war can also join the project.

• casualties
• culture
• military
• prisoners

Lviv JAM FACTORY ART CENTER’s grand opening is to take place on November 18. It will host contemporary art exhibitions in particular. The art center opening will be followed by a large-scale exhibition of more than a hundred works by Ukrainian artists titled “Our Years, Our Words, Our Losses, Our Search, Our Us”, which was developed for a year by the curatorial group of Natalia Matsenko, Borys Filonenko, and Kateryna Iakovlenko and the institution’s team. An exhibition about the history of the Jam Factory building and the Pidzamche district will be placed in the old tower. This exhibition will become a permanent display. At the same time, public spaces on the territory of the JAM FACTORY will become available.

The idea of creating a new cultural center in Lviv originated in 2015 when philanthropist and historian Dr. Harald Binder decided to support the development of JAM FACTORY as a center for contemporary art. The JAM FACTORY ART CENTER is located in a former industrial building that used to be a distillery and later a jam processing plant.

• culture
• Lviv

Before the full-blown war, Oleksandr Budko worked as a barista in a coffee shop. When the enemy invasion began, the man did not hesitate to volunteer for the Carpathian Sich battalion. In May of the same year, the soldier lost both his legs during fighting in the Kharkiv region. Oleksandr says that he was inspired to engage in rehabilitation activities by soldiers like himself. Those who started boxing or running after being wounded. Over time, the guy got prostheses and started writing an autobiographical novel. And recently he starred as one of the main characters in a documentary. The film to tell the story of the dancers who evacuated after Russia’s all-out invasion of Ukraine and created the United Ukrainian Ballet, will be produced by actress Sarah Jessica Parker.

For reference: Oleksandr Budko is currently in Ukraine, ready to talk to journalists, both online and offline.

• casualties
• culture
• military

The Media Center Ukraine – Ukrinform to hold a briefing involving the Ukrainian Burning Man team representatives, engaging the global community to rescue the Ukrainian military and civilians from hot spots in the war zone on October 19. The Burners started The Hedgehog Temple charity fundraising project to buy 20+ new Toyota cars to evacuate people from the war zone. 

The fundraiser’s symbol is The Hedgehog Temple, this year’s Ukrainian art object at the Burning Man event, which took place from August 27 to September 4 in the Black Rock Desert, Nevada, USA. The Hedgehog Temple is a huge structure in the form of a hedgehog, built of steel, wood, camouflage nets, and 100 anti-tank obstacles — “hedgehogs,” which were exclusively made for the installation. In the center of the artwork, the stories of fallen soldiers and cultural figures who were supposed to be at Burning Man 2023 were placed.

Participants:

– Yaroslav Korets, Head of Ukrainian Burners NGO, Leader of Kurenivka Camp at Burning Man (online);

– Oleksandr Slobodianyk, Co-Creator of The Hedgehog Temple project, a volunteer helping the military (in person);

– Arsen Mirzoyan, Singer-Songwriter, Volunteer, Project Ambassador (in person);

– Iryna Guk, Head of Leleka Foundation (in person);

– Captain Andrii Maksymchuk (call sign Batman), airborne assault trooper, scout (in person);

For reference: Burning Man has been gathering people for more than 30 years, bringing together 80,000 artists and visitors from more than 50 US states and 35 countries every year.

• culture
• Kyiv

On October 18, the “LOOK CLOSER” installation will be unveiled in Kyiv. On the occasion of EU Anti-Trafficking Day, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Ukraine is launching a new information campaign “LOOK CLOSER” with the aim of preventing human trafficking and raising awareness of safety rules during migration. It encourages people to think about the risks of exploitation and to see possible outcomes of offers of work or housing, which seem attractive at first glance.

In addition to Kyiv, “LOOK CLOSER” exhibition created as part of the campaign will be set up inside railway and bus stations and shopping malls as well as in the central squares of cities, etc. in 20 regions of Ukraine.

Participants:

• Iryna Postolovska, Deputy Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine for European Integration
• Marco Chimenton, IOM Ukraine Deputy Chief of Mission
• Theodora Dell, Deputy Mission Director at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Ukraine (confirmation pending)
• Nils Dahlqvist, Second Secretary of the Embassy of Sweden in Ukraine
• Oleksandra Khamulenko, Head of the Department for Quality Standards at the National Social Service of Ukraine
• Roman Delimbovskyi, Deputy Head of the Migration Police Department at the National Police of Ukraine

Accreditation is required.

• casualties
• culture
• Kyiv

On October 22, a mural dedicated to Ukrainian army volunteers called “Shadow” will be unveiled in Kyiv. The mural depicts military officer Oleksii Movchan, call sign “Shadow,” who died on May 1, 2022 in Donetsk region while performing a task. The man was not a military man by profession, but he had combat experience. He participated in the anti-terrorist operation, and on the first days of russia’s full-scale invasion, he joined the army to defend Ukraine.

The mural is based on Oleksii’s last photo, taken a few minutes before he died. In it, Movchan is holding a cat that he and his brothers in arms saved from under the rubble.

The idea of creating a mural came to Oleksii’s wife Yuliia in July 2022. She wanted to make a parting gift for her husband. The mural was paid for by Yuliia, as well as her relatives, her husbands’ fellow soldiers and people who knew Oleksii. “Shadow” was painted by a couple of artists: Vitaliy Gideone and Lena Noyna. After all, during his lifetime, Oleksii was very fond of the works of Vitaliy Gideone.

At the unveiling of the mural, journalists will have the opportunity to talk to Oleksii’s wife Yuliia Movchan and his brothers in arms. 

• culture
• dead
• military
• Kyiv

28-year-old photographer Vitalii Yurasov has been documenting the war for almost one and a half years. He filmed battles, prisoner exchanges and secret operations of special forces. Vitalii doesn’t just visit the military, he lives together with the heroes he films at the frontline: he sleeps where they sleep and helps with whatever is necessary.

On October 15, Yurasov’s first photo exhibition “War Face Project” will open in the capital. He will present more than 50 works, in particular, those signed by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, Valerii Zaluzhnyi and Kyrylo Budanov.

Journalists are welcome to visit the opening of the exhibition and talk with Vitalii Yurasov in the capital.

• culture
• military
• Kyiv

On October 8, Kyiv will host a concert, a photo exhibition, a frontline float, and panel discussions that will address the topic of rebuilding Ukrainian cities after the de-occupation. The event is Ukraïner’s Brave Cities video project next up and aims to raise UAH 10,000,000 to support the Come Back Alive Foundation.

Last year, the Ukraїner team presented the Brave Cities research project. It’s a series of videos telling the story of the struggle of the temporarily occupied cities whose residents are heroically resisting. The videos were created by the Ukraїner team in cooperation with local historians, historians, civic activists, and athletes i.e. those who know and feel these localities best. Ukrainian musicians also joined the project and wrote songs about some of these cities. These songs will be performed at the charity concert. Palindrome, Druha Rika, Kryhitka, OTOY, Lilu 45, Sasha Chemerov, and others are among the participants.

Prior accreditation is required for the media representatives. 

• culture
• Kyiv