Automatically translated version. May contain inaccuracies compared to the original.
The exhibition is dedicated to the service members of the Separate Presidential Brigade named after Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky, who from the early days of the full-scale invasion took part in the defense of Kyiv.
In the Kyiv City History Museum, the portrait exhibition “Non-expert Opinion” has opened. The display focuses on the personal experiences and emotions of the service members of the Separate Presidential Brigade named after Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky.
photojournalist Vasyl Artyushenko of ZN.UA attended the exhibition.
The main goal of the joint project of the Kyiv History Museum and the Separate Presidential Brigade is to reduce the distance between civilian life in the rear and soldiers at the front. The organizers invite viewers to see the full-scale war through the own voices of people who are daily inside this reality, risking their lives and carrying out combat duties, rather than perceiving them only through the lens of news, official summaries, military ranks, or uniforms.
Each large-format portrait in the exhibition is accompanied by the service members’ direct speech. They talk about their own fears, sorrow, dreams, service, choice, and the future without analysis of maps, weapons, or expert assessments.
The central element of the project is the personal opinion of a person outside their military status, because a voice does not require high ranks or a distinguished military path.
One of the exhibition’s heroes, callsign “Deda,” who serves in the same brigade as his own son, notes: “Only a nation that raises its children as warriors has prospects.”
The stories of the fighters shown in the photographs are closely linked to the path of the unit itself. From the early days of the full-scale invasion, the soldiers of the then Presidential Regiment took part in defending the capital. After reforming into the Separate Presidential Brigade named after Hetman Bohdan Khmelnytsky, the unit united thousands of volunteers and an experienced officer corps, becoming one of the largest brigades in Ukraine.
Earlier, ZN.UA reported on the painting exhibition “The New Militarized Landscape,” created by Odesa artists and service members Ihor Husyev and Stas Zhalobniuk, who work together under the name Forest Brothers.
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