Capturing Struggle: Ukraine Through American and Ukrainian Lenses is an exhibition featuring images captured by American and Ukrainian photojournalists who are documenting the invasion of their country by Russia. The Russian military invasion of Ukraine began on 24th February 2022. This year, on February 24th, the war against Ukraine will enter its third year.
This exhibition is dedicated to marking not only the milestone of unprovoked all-out Russian aggression against Ukraine but also the ongoing struggle of Ukrainians in light of civilian deaths, constant assaults on the civilian infrastructure, and human rights violations. It is also dedicated to the daily lives of Ukrainians, as documented through photographs. The curator remains highly grateful to Brendan Hoffman (USA), Serhii Korovayny (Ukraine), Oksana Parfeniuk (Ukraine), and Serhiy Mykhalchuk (Ukraine), who kindly agreed to provide us with permission to re-use the photos that they have taken throughout the Russian-Ukrainian war.
Also, a special note of thanks goes to Professors Anastassia Fedyk, Yuriy Gorodnichenko, and Nataliia Goshylyk of the University of California Berkeley and Professor Monica Eppinger of St. Louis University's School of Law for steadfastly supporting a series of library-based events as well as the idea of this online exhibition. These events were organized to highlight the difficult work of Ukrainian archivists, librarians, human rights lawyers, and publishers.
The idea for bringing Ukraine: War and Resistance physical photography exhibit to the libraries originated at Fulbright Ukraine and the Institute of International Education Kyiv, of which the Director of both these institutions, Dr. Jessica Zychowicz, is a UC Berkeley Alumna (English, '04). Deputy Director Inna Barysh, Communications Officer Marian Luniv, and Program Officer Mariia Kravchenko organized the first physical exhibit in Vynnitsia, Ukraine, and continue co-curating different Fulbright iterations. The idea of this specific exhibition originated in conversations with Professor Nataliia Goshylyk, and pictures from two of the nineteen original photographers, namely Brendan Hoffman and Oksana Parafeniuk, were used for UC Berkeley's exhibition. All other images provided by Serhii Korovayny and Serihy Mykhalchuk and all other related materials used in this exhibition, such as the webinars, reading lists, and GIS objects, were not part of the original Fulbright exhibition and were a later independent curatorial addition of UC Berkeley Librarian and Faculty members. Fulbright Ukraine has held exhibitions at several U.S. and European universities and museums, including in Berlin, the Czech Republic, and Bulgaria, attended by U.S. Ambassadors.
Content Warning: The violence associated with war is never pretty, nor it is predictable, and the images associated with the course of war can be quite graphic. The curator has done his best to avoid depicting visually disturbing images. Some viewers could find some images very disturbing.
Below are select webinars related to Ukraine that the curator of this exhibition organized. Besides it, there are photos from a related exhibition co-sponsored by the AI for Good Foundation and organized by Svidok. The AI for Good Foundation is a nonprofit organization that brings together interdisciplinary researchers, nonprofits, governments, and corporate actors to use artificial intelligence for social impact. Additionally, the foundation has a platform called "Svidok" (meaning "witness" in Ukrainian), which serves as a personal war journal where Ukrainians can securely store their experiences of living through the war.
The exhibition also includes reading recommendations about the contemporary history of Ukraine, its people, and the ongoing military conflict in the region. These books are from the University of California Berkeley Library’s collections.
The curator, Dr. Liladhar P. is also grateful to Callie Royster of Oakland Public Library and City of Oakland Parking Enforcement for advice and assistance with creating an embedded map of the places from this exhibition.