On October 13, the exhibition ‘Visual History of Mykolaiv’ by 20 authors of the conceptual and art photography school Mykolaiv Young Photography’ (MYPH) will open in the *8 PRYCHAL space. This project is a kind of ‘visual trace of the experience’ of the city, which was on the front line for nine months under shelling and the threat of occupation
MYPH founder photographer Sergey Melnitchenko notes that ‘Visual History of Mykolaiv’ is not an exhibition in the format of documentary photography or photojournalism, although such works are also present. Together with the curator (and one of the School’s alumni) Artem Humilevskiy, they decided ‘not to show pain, death, blood and despair to the people of Mykolaiv’.
Therefore, ‘Visual History of Mykolaiv’ tells the story of the city, people, their experiences, moods and mentality through the prism of a more artistic authorial approach than a documentary one.
‘However, of course, part of the exposition was the works of our photographer Maria Gorshkova (and this, by the way, is almost half of the exhibition). These are photographs of Mykolaiv with the consequences of russia’s aggressive actions. They should be here for two reasons: the first reason is that Maria did not leave the city, but as a photojournalist of a local publication, she filmed and documented these events, and actively engaged in volunteering, and we supported her in this. And the second reason is that people, even those who live in Mykolaiv, need to be reminded who we are dealing with, and it is very important not to relax even for a second until our victory’, Melnitchenko told DTF Magazine.
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The participants of the exhibition are Vyacheslav Teschner, Maksym Holub, Alesya Tishchuk, Natalia Agryzkova, Alena Burya, Andrii Rublevyk, Artem Humilevskiy, Olha Borysenko, Andrii Chebanov, Li Biletska, Maria Gorshkova, Maryna Brodovska, Natalia Lebid, Pavlo Luhovyi, Roksolana Zasiadko, Tatiana Titkova, Valeria Mirhorodchenko, Ksenia Petrovskaya and Sergey Melnitchenko.
‘Visual History of Mykolaiv’ will run until November 30, 2023. Further, MYPH plans to show the exhibition outside Ukraine.
