2023-05-19 14:30:00
The photo exhibition “Bachmut in Bochum” by Victoria Ivleva is located on the second floor of the library of the Ruhr University. Cold artificial lighting, countless shelves with books and documents behind massive glass doors and 25 large black and white photographs on concrete walls – the atmosphere of the room successfully emphasizes the theme of the work. All of them were made in Bakhmut in February 2023. Over the past months, fierce fighting has been going on in the region of this Ukrainian city.
Russian journalist and photographer – Victoria Ivleva Andrey Sakharov Prize “For Freedom of Thought” in 2014″ – the opening of the exhibition in the university library of the German Bochum began according to a typical scenario. However, the protagonist of the evening, a short, fragile woman in black, who got up from her seat, said that it was not important at all, and offered to honor the memory of the Ukrainians who died in the war.
After a moment of silence, Victoria Ivleva asked if there was anyone in the audience who could not or did not want to hear Russian speech – she understands this and is ready to switch to English. The public, mostly represented by students, asked the journalist to speak in the language that was convenient for her. And the rest of the evening passed in Russian with translation into German.
The city and its inhabitants
For many months now, the battles for Bakhmut have been going on. They go both on its outskirts and in the city itself. In one of the photographs – a huge dilapidated, burned-out building with columns and black window holes without glass – here, on Mira Street, 53, there used to be an Allo communication salon. Another photo shows a bombed-out pharmacy on Yubileinaya Street. There are anti-tank hedgehogs on Svoboda Street. In the picture with the visible domes of the Church of All Saints, the sky was covered with dark puffs of smoke after another shelling. And the photo taken at the new cemetery for those killed and died during the war, with snow-covered graves and crosses, symbolizes the tragedy of Bakhmut.
Victoria Ivleva visited the city in February of this year. “The first sounds you hear in Bakhmut are constantly thundering shots and explosions from all sides. Sometimes they fall silent, but the silence that comes to replace them is no less ominous. You take a step and do not know what will happen next, only you realize how vulnerable you are “, and that you are on the verge of death. Or a few centimeters. The next exit to the street may be the last. The feeling of mortal danger lurking nearby does not let go for a moment, “the photographer shares his feelings.
In the toughest conditions
Most of the works show the most difficult living conditions of the people still remaining in Bakhmut, who are forced to do without water, heat, light, gas, or any source of information. In the catalog of the exhibition, the journalist accompanied almost every photo of her with a reportage story.
One of them is about Larisa. A 60-year-old woman, in February, she came every day to the “Point of Invincibility” – a place where you could warm up, charge your batteries, go online, drink hot tea. To all those present, Larisa read her poems in a style similar to a tank, not paying attention to the shelling.
Another story is about 89-year-old grandmother Zoya, who refused to be evacuated until her son Oleg was buried, torn apart by a grenade in a neighboring yard, where he went for coal. In a black-and-white photograph, a woman, barely standing and chilled, is supported under her arms by two voluntary assistants in bulletproof vests and helmets.
Baba Manya and Dorofeevna
Photographer and journalist with a Russian passport, Viktoria Ivleva, lives in Kyiv, where she moved days after the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion of the neighboring country to support Ukraine’s fight for freedom. Ivleva calls herself a photographer, journalist and activist. She went to Bakhmut not only to talk about the life of the city. The main task was to help in the evacuation of the surviving citizens. Mostly elderly people remained in Bakhmut. Many did not want to leave their homes, and it took a long time to convince them. But there were also those who would like to leave, but could not. Like Baba Manya in the photo of the same name, which the photographer considers special (this work opens the article).
The meeting with Manya took place in one of the courtyards of Bakhmut. On that day, Victoria Ivleva helped evacuate 93-year-old blind Nadezhda Dorofeevna. She was already sitting in the car, tightly holding things prepared “for death” in her hands, tied in a bundle, and with a small bag at her feet. Baba Manya came out to say goodbye to her, leaning heavily on two sticks so as not to fall. Now she was practically alone on the whole street. Manya cried: “I want to go to my children, to my daughter! She is in the North.” “In Russia?” the volunteer clarified. Yes, in Russia, but she has not called her mother for a long time … Looking sadly at the picture of an elderly woman, Victoria said that they could not help her: there was no connection with her daughter, there was no one to take the woman – she remained in Bakhmut. “I would so like them all to survive. But I understand that this will not happen,” Victoria Ivleva wrote in the postscript of the catalog “Bakhmut in Bochum. The most dangerous place in the world. Stories from Bakhmut.”
Valuable experience or fraud?
How was the exposure and the author’s story about the history of photographs received by those who visited the exhibition? Anna, a short, dark-haired student, said she was interested. “But to be honest, I have a very ambivalent impression. Because I myself am from Ukraine, and in general I still don’t know how to relate to the fact that someone from Russia photographs what the Russians are doing. “that even people who do not belong to this nationality wear Ukrainian national clothes. I don’t really like it. I can’t name any reason, but it feels deceived, as if something is being taken away from you,” she added.
Student Sonya, also from Ukraine, believes that such exhibitions are very important: “For people in Europe who mainly use television, this kind of exhibition is probably the most valuable experience. Because the content that is shown on television is filtered. They do not tell a lot of information, or tell only what is beneficial to tell. And real stories from people can only be seen at this kind of exhibitions. For my peers, this kind of photography is not new, since I myself am from Kharkov. All my classmates and friends from Kharkiv post a lot and post photos on social networks, so I often see this kind of pictures. But what I know is about Kharkov. And the information that I have about Bakhmut is from the media. Therefore, what Victoria is doing here in Bochum is very valuable.”
The exhibition “Bakhmut in Bochum” by Russian photographer, journalist and activist Victoria Ivleva can be viewed at the Ruhr University Library until 31 July. Exhibition catalog available on the website of the Ruhr University.
See also:
#photo #report #Bakhmut