A war diary of lives
Creative Ukrainian Fair
28 Jan 2024, St Helliers Community Center, 12-4 PM
Come and join us for a day of art, fun, learning, music, food and friends!
ART
All about love, support, and gratefulness.
We are happy to share these with you:
presenting the wonderful photo exhibition “Kia Kaha Ukraine” by Ukrainian photographer Yaryna, which features touching stories of New Zealanders wearing Ukrainian clothes;
delivering a big THANK YOU message right from Ukraine through the drawings by children from an art school
DRAMA MASTERCLASS
ʼDrama masterclass’ - delivered by Dasha Volga, an Internationally acclaimed filmmaker and European Theatre practitioner, a founder of New Zealand’s Film&Drama school @filmkidsnz. (14:30 in Library)
MUSIC FOOD FUN
Enjoy Ukrainian hospitality, traditional food, live musical performance by international artist Dasha Volga, meet friends, and converse! (13:00-14:30 at Main Hall)
FAMILY TIME
Share with us our passion to learn something new! Join us for a creative masterclass in Traditional doll making(15:00-16:00 at Bay Room), or stretch your body limits at a yoga class (12:00-13:00 at Deck)!
Ukraine: a War Diary of Lives
THU 8 JUNE - SUN 2 JULY 2023, Estuary Art Centre, Orewa (214b Hibiscus Coast Highway, Orewa)
On the trail of Ukrainians under the invasion, Estuary Art Centre in Orewa will open a new exhibition about people of Ukraine under conditions of total war. It is a unique synthesis of a standalone exhibition from the Auckland War Museum and commemoration event in the Sydney Town Hall by respective local Ukrainian Communities, special series of artworks by Kiwi sculptor, and a series of war victims’ stories by a non-government organisation from Ukraine recently displayed on the streets of main cities of New Zealand.
Most of the photo works and information panels from the exhibition ‘Ukraine: The Cost of Freedom’, originally opened in the Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland War Memorial Museum in Te Taunga community hub from the 24th of August to the 23rd of October 2022, with its materials afterward displayed in the Te Heranga Waka Victoria University of Wellington from the 17th of November to the 17th of December 2022, contemporary photojournalism from the frontline in Ukraine showing the devastation and impact the war unleashed by Russian Federation has had on the Ukrainian people.
Extraordinary and sometimes harrowing images, were captured by some of the most prominent Ukrainian photographers including Denys Kazanskyi, Dmytro Laryn, Serhii Myhalchuk, Kostiantyn Sova, Dmytro Kornilov, Eduard Kryzhanivskyi, Tetiana Poslavska, Dmytro Kozatsky, Datalion, Viacheslav Onyshchenko, Misha Djos and Rodrigo Abd, shed light on the pain and struggle of Ukrainian citizens who have been resisting the Russian invasion for many months.
Many of the photographs have been provided to the exhibition by ‘Ukrainska Pravda’ (in Ukrainian for ‘Ukrainian Truth’), Ukraine’s largest news website, and most of the video content was provided by the media project ‘Ukrainer’.
Ukrainian project team of the original exhibition in the Auckland Museum:
Kateryna Samokisha (Project Manager), Alex Pakholjuk (Creative Director), Tanya Mishchuk (Art Director), Kyrylo Kucherov (Content Writer)
Featured works from the event ‘Ukraine: Secrets of Resilience’ held on the 24th of February 2023 in the Sydney Town Hall on the one-year anniversary of the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine, an art exhibition uncovering the secrets of Ukrainian resilience through emotional and telling posters.
“Despite all predictions, Ukraine still resists, liberates its territories, and strongly believes in victory.
Did you ever wonder why Ukraine is still standing?”
Ukrainian project team:
Tetiana Koludenko, Olena Levkivska, Nataliia Vyaz, Natalia Kravchenko, Alena Vigovska, Vasyl Zubach ft. Christine Young.
‘True Blue and a little bit of Yellow’ - https://www.facebook.com/trueblueandalittlebitofyellow/
Posters were created by Tetiana Koludenko
The main artwork ‘Revival’ by Olena Levkivska will be on display during the whole period of the exhibition in the Estuary Art Centre and then sold at the art-auction on the 1st of July 2023.
Featured children’s stories from the Memory Platform ‘Memorial’, displayed in New Zealand on the streets of Auckland, Wellington, Christchurch, and Dunedin on the 24th of February 2023, during the vigil commemorating the memories of all the victims of the war brought on Ukrainians by the people of Russia. It is also a reminder to the world about the highest price Ukrainians are paying not only for their own freedom, lives, and sovereign state but to keep the infamous ‘Russian World’ within its borders and not to let its evil spill across into other free countries.
“Our mission is to preserve the memory of those who lost their lives, tell their stories to the world, and record all the crimes of Russians in Ukraine.”
The creator of the stories and portraits is Ukrainian Non-Government Organisation – Memory Platform ‘Memorial’
Series of laser cut etchings “Ukraine” by Kiwi-sculptor Jan Ubels, created since the start of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, first displayed at the exhibition “Ukraine: Colours of Freedom” in the Papakura Museum from the 15th of October to the 14th of November 2022, depicting devastating impact upon millions of people who have been displaced by the Moscovian aggression.
“This artwork series is inspired by the pictures across the media, particularly of the elderly, women, and children walking in devastation with their only worldly possessions. On purpose, Jan wanted these not to be specific or identifiable individuals. Instead, he wanted us to consider that this could be any of us.”
Jan has gifted the entire series to Ukrainian community in New Zealand for any worthy purpose.
https://sites.google.com/view/jan-ubels-sculpture/art-work/ukraine
On top of that, visitors will have an opportunity to discover Ukraine through information boards and videos displayed in the main foyer of the Estuary Art Centre, see traditional Ukrainian clothes, try Ukrainian cuisine at the Fundraising Dinner or Bake Sale on the day of the Art Auction, learn & make for yourself traditional Ukrainian flower wreath at the workshop day, and of course support Ukraine via donations, purchases of cakes, attending the fundraising dinner or buying art at the auction day. All proceedings are going to Ukraine.
Tetiana Koludenko with her artworks/posters
Olena Levkivska with her artwork "Revival"
"Ukraine: the cost of freedom" exhibition
Memory Platform "Memorial"
Jan Ubels artwork
Special events
SAT 17 JUN 2023 10:00- 12:00 – "Vinok" workshop. Traditional Ukrainian flower wreath making. Led by Ukrainian community.
SAT 1 JUL 2023 13:00- 15:00 - Fundraising Art-Auction & Lunch (by Ukrainian volunteer group "Chervona Kalyna")"
Walk through gallery
Video from the Event
Our partners:
special gratitude to our local partners:
Ukraine: the Cost of Freedom
With generous support from Auckland War Memorial Museum, we made an exhibition “Ukraine: The Cost of Freedom'' in the museum’s Te Taunga Community Hub. It opened on the anniversary of Ukrainian Independence - the 24th of August 2022. Over the next 2 months, the exhibition welcomed nearly 21,000 visitors.
MEDIA RELEASE: Thursday 18 August 2022
New community-led photography exhibition ‘Ukraine: The Cost of Freedom’ opens at Auckland Museum
Tāmaki Paenga Hira Auckland Museum will open a new exhibition in Te Taunga Community Hub, a gallery designed to highlight Auckland’s many diverse communities and provide a space where they can share their stories.
Located in the Museum’s Grand Foyer this exhibition, from Auckland’s Ukrainian community, Ukraine: The Cost of Freedom, is a contemporary photojournalism exhibition taken from the frontline in Ukraine. This exhibition shows the devastation and impact the war has had on the Ukrainian people.
Everything you will see and experience in Ukraine: The Cost of Freedom has been chosen by the Auckland Ukrainian Community to tell their own story, from the photos and videos on display to the labels and signage. On select days, the community will be leading its own activations for the public.
These extraordinary and sometimes harrowing images, captured by some of the most prominent Ukrainian photographers including Denys Kazanskyi, Dmytro Laryn, Serhii Myhalchuk, Kostiantyn Sova, Dmytro Kornilov, Eduard Kryzhanivskyi, Tetiana Poslavska, Dmytro Kozatsky, Viacheslav Onyshchenko, Misha Djos, Rodrigo Abd, and Datalion shed light on the pain and struggle of Ukrainian citizens who have been resisting the Russian invasion for many months. Most of the photographs have been provided to the exhibition by Ukrainska Pravda, Ukraine’s largest news website. The majority of the video content was provided by the media project “Ukrainer”.
All of the photographs were taken along the high-risk 1000km frontline at the risk of the photographers' own lives. Some photographs showing the ruins of Ukrainian cities, once beautiful and prosperous, now reduced to rubble, have also been exhibited internationally in Berlin, Singapore, and Dublin.
Since the invasion began in February of this year, more than 120,000 residential buildings, 2000 schools, and 700 hospitals have been destroyed or severely damaged, as reported by the Kyiv School of Economics on 13th July 2022. Thousands of lives have been lost, including more than 350 children, and more than 12 million Ukrainians have fled their homes seeking safety, according to Ukrainian officials and United Nations as of July 2022.
Previous communities Te Taunga Community Hub has hosted include the Akatokamanava Enua Community of Tāmaki Makaurau, Auckland’s Cook Islands Mauke community; the Sudanese community of New Zealand; the Mā’ohi Nui (Tahiti and neighboring archipelagos) community, and Kshetra, a collective of New Zealand Indian artists.
Head of Learning and Public Programmes Kath McGhie says the concept for the gallery is to provide an exhibition space where the diverse communities of Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland can share their stories, reflecting the Museum’s aspiration to be a place of belonging for all Aucklanders.
“We have created a space where a particular community can engage in authentic storytelling about their culture and identity. It provides a space for communities to share the stories that are important to them,” says McGhie.
Opening Ceremony speeches
Auckland War Memorial Museum, 24 Aug 2022
Walk through gallery
This video shows the main hall with the photo exhibition and art object (the bomb) in the center of it, the Media room where visitors could learn about Ukraine and the War, and another room had graphic content (and not filmed here).
