IWM North has a beautiful exhibition on Ukraine: Photographs from the Frontline. It shows the work of photojournalist Anastasia Taylor-Lind.
It is a free exhibition, until 2nd of January, so well worth visiting. I shared only a few pictures because they are better seen in person. There were quite a few people even if we went on a weekday. The display is suitable for older children, as it is not too gruesome or explicit. Of course, it depends on what parents are comfortable with, I just mention that I would take a 8-10 year-old child with me without any issues.
This is on the first floor and there are a few more things to see at the museum, so allowing for a couple of hours to see all would be better.
The exhibition covers the period from 2014, when Russia invaded Ukraine to the full-scale invasion of February 2022. There are people from Donbas, victims and soldiers. There are short descriptions and quotes and those should be read to fully appreciate the exhibition.
I enjoyed this exhibition and I’m happy the museum decided to show it. I watched the reaction of the people who were visiting it. An older man looked for a long time at one of the photos which showed a funeral, before shaking his head with sadness before moving on. That is empathy and that makes this exhibition very important at this stage.
As I wrote this post I saw that our new PM, Rishi Sunak, went to Ukraine and committed more aid, both lethal and non-lethal. I am happy this happened and I just hope the occupiers will be forced out of Ukraine, as, unfortunately, it doesn’t look like they want to leave on their own, for whatever reason.
That moment you describe, when you saw the sadness of that older man- those moments are powerful and I think it is important to witness those- to see the empathy of others because a lot of what we see and is portrayed in modern life is not like that but it is there.
I’d like to see this exhibition.
I am guessing that once one venue features such an important exhibition, it won’t be too long before others follow suit, so I shall be keeping my eye on the local press to see what might be scheduled, as Manchester is just a bit too far for me!
I can tell how poignant and moving the pictures are from the shots you took and the way they are displayed, but as you say, it is one of those exhibitions you need to get up close and personal with, to fully appreciate it. 🙂
That would be really great, as Manchester is pretty far from the south.
Sometimes we might ask ourselves if the others care and by what I saw during my visit, I say people do care. The look on people’s faces was so telling.
I saw a photo in my paper today of your PM meeting with Zelenskyy.
What a timely exhibition. I hope people will take advantage and see it.
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It is great that the academia and museums are engaged in the discussion, this is the only way that the truth about Ukraine, the Baltic states, the other countries under the iron curtain can explain the Russian colonialism.