On the eve of the National Flag Day and Independence Day of Ukraine on August 21, the opening of the photo exhibition "Lost Artifacts of Ukraine" took place at the Maksym Rylsky Memorial Museum (Kyiv). The exhibition is held within the framework of the institute's initiative theme "Civilizational Demands of Modern Ukrainian Society through the Prism of Hybrid Threats" based on the results of Professor Viktor Dokashenko's eleven-year project "Historical and Cultural Monuments of the Ukrainian Province."
The exhibition offers 25 color A4-sized author's photos, united by the theme of the history of Ukrainian statehood from ancient times (the results of archaeological excavations of the catacomb culture in Luhansk region are presented) to the present day (the art object "Heart of Ukraine"). The peculiarity of the exhibits is that all the photos represent a Ukrainian province, there are not even photos from regional centers.
The central event at the opening was the speech of Professor, Head of the History Department of the Institute, Galina Dokashenko, who emphasized both the cognitive and educational function of the event and thanked the museum for the invitation. The exhibition is becoming an important step in the formation of national memory through visual images. The significance is enhanced by the fact that some of the objects presented in the photo no longer really exist, they were destroyed as a result of military operations. At the same time, existing objects are not always in proper condition. This confirms the need for special attention to them.
The exhibition plays another important role in the context of modern hybrid warfare – it debunks a number of myths created by a neighboring state.
Why are artifacts lost:
- Lost, damaged or completely destroyed during the Russian-Ukrainian war;
- Lost because neglected in previous years;
- Lost mentally, historically, because these artifacts were either silenced altogether, or attributed to Polish, Russian, or Austrian history.
Time to reclaim our history!
