Unseen Force

Unseen Force was a special exhibition, which ended a couple of days ago. I wanted to share some highlights from it, even if my readers are not going to see it. Also, it was in Ukraine, so even if it was still on, it would still have been impossible to see it.
Unseen Forces was an exhibition on the non-violent resistance movements in occupied territories.

The exhibition was held in the Gunpowder Tower in Lviv. This location, a few minutes from the Town Hall, hosts special exhibitions throughout the year. I will make the point of visiting it each time I’m in Lviv because I’m sure it will be very interesting.

‘Inside the appearance’, Crimea 2023.
We needed a red flash light to read the messages as it was complete darkness. ‘I pretend’ project is the resistance campaign by Antik Danov. Posters were placed on billboards around Feodosia. As expected some were torn down, but some remained in place for weeks.
Antik Danov, pseudonym, was born in Crimea in 1989. He went to Kyiv for his tertiary studies. He has to remain anonymous to protect his life.

The Yellow Ribbon is a resistance movement in Crimea and the occupied territories. Just sharing online a picture with the Ukrainian flag somewhere in the occupied territories, including Crimea, means the russians have to spend a lot of resources to try to figure out who did this. They are terrified of rebellion and there are constant arrests of people who resist the occupation, even now, years after the russians occupiers arrived.

The targeting of museums is a clear sign of genocide, of the trying to erase the Ukrainian nation and its history. Considering how wide spread this is, by looking on the map, with many museums never being in regions occupied by the russians, it is obvious that those aerial threats were intended to struck those museums.

I’m loving this meme, a reference to Hitler’s suicide and the similarity between the Nazi invasion of Ukraine and the current russian invasion of Ukraine. These were created by Maksym Palenko.

A display of memes seems very appropriate considering that memes are used constantly for propaganda and for cheering up.

This meme is interesting for many reasons. Putin and his enablers are shown central stage, but the ones on the margins are not as against him as they should. Western vacillation made Ukrainians weary. I completely understand that and the Ukrainians are not the only ones looking at this and wondering if their country wouldn’t be better to develop nukes or another form of deterrence.

I’ve added a picture with the names of almost all. If anyone recognises 3, let me know and I will add it to the picture.

These are various flags from protests. The top left is from 2019, there is one from 2021 from Mariupol, a flag for Pride 2022 to support the LGBTQ+ members of the military. Another flag is with “Donetsk is Ukraine”, from 2014.

These pictures are from 2014, when “green men” arrived in Crimea. The russians are coloured green and the rest is black and white. It is painfully clear from these few pictures that the russian invaders were supported by heavy military equipment. It is shameful that US and UK ignored this, despite the Budapest memorandum. The inaction in 2014 led to the full-scale invasion of 2022.

A small community was occupied in March 2022 and the russians set up barracks and a torture chamber in a library. These embroidered towels and shirts were used by the occupiers to clean their shoes, tie up prisoners, wipe away blood, and bandage wounds. Only a few items survived, of which were put on display.