DISPLACED

DISPLACED. 12 STORIES FROM UKRAINE — AN OPEN DIALOGUE WITH EUROPE ABOUT THE FAITH OF INTERNALLY DISPLACED PERSONS IN UKRAINE.

The second part of the European tour of the photo exhibition Displaced. 12 stories from Ukraine has begun. The aim of this tour is to draw attention to the subject of internally displaced persons in Ukraine.

The characters of the exhibition are citizens of Ukraine and their families, who were forced to start their life from the scratch in a new place because of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine and the illegal annexation of Crimea. They share their personal stories and reveal a tough experience of the displaced.

“When you leave your home for two weeks with one suitcase and you are unable to go back for a year-it forces you to reconsider your values. You realise that you can be satisfied with a little”- this is how Nina Vidomenko has begins her story.

Ukraine is a country in Central Europe, where Russia’s aggression forced more than 1 million 700 thousand people to flee their homes in order to “live somewhere, where in the middle of the night you will not hear the explosions, where strange people are not coming with strange flags, where there is no hostility, hatred and pain.”

The project was initiated by the UK Government through the British Embassy in Ukraine and the British Council in Ukraine. Famous Ukrainian photographer Sergiy Sarakhanov was the exhibition’s photographer. For the first time the photo exhibition was presented in November 2015 on St. Sophia Square in Kiev, after which the exhibition’s tour was organised to other cities of Ukraine. At the beginning of 2016, the exhibition was presented in Brussels and London, where it has received a lot of positive feedback.

“This photo exhibition shows powerfully the human cost of the conflict in eastern regions of Ukraineand illegal annexation of Crimea. I have no doubt that the international audiences who see it will appreciate the overwhelming need to work for peace and security in Ukraine. The UK, with our international partners, supports Ukraine’s efforts to address these humanitarian challenges and to develop strategies that will create sustainable opportunities for the internally displaced people” said Helen Fazey, the Deputy Head of Mission of the British Embassy Kyiv.

Now the exhibition is going to Berlin, Rome, Brussels, the Hague and Paris. The tour will last from November 2016 to March 2017.

During the whole period, the exhibition’s visitors and those concerned will be able to write a few words of support to of Ukraine on the exhibition’s Facebook page or on handouts that will be distributed on the ground. After the completion of the tour, wishes that were collected across the whole Europe will be presented in Kyiv.

The European tour of the photo exhibition Displaced. 12 stories from Ukraine is organised by the Canadian non-governmental organisation Stabilization Support Services with financial support through the British Embassy Kyiv

For any enquiries, please contact:

Agata Geiko,
Media Coordinator
Stabilization Support Services
Phone: +38 093 589 80

The project is also coordinated by UDI Associate Daria Zhydkova.

For more news see Displaced Facebook Page.