Ukraine: The Cost of Freedom — 24 August-23 October
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. The photographs show 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 their own activations for the public.
These extraordinary and sometimes harrowing images, captured by some of the most prominent Ukrainian photographers, shed light on the pain and struggle of Ukrainian citizens who have been resisting the Russian invasion for many months. Photographers include Denys Kazanskyi, Dmytro Laryn, Serhii Myhalchuk, Kostiantyn Sova, Dmytro Kornilov, Eduard Kryzhanivskyi, Tetiana Poslavska, Dmytro Kozatsky, Datalion, Viacheslav Onyshchenko, Misha Djos and Rodrigo Abd.
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. Many of the photographs have been provided to the exhibition by Ukrainska Pravda, Ukraine’s largest news website, and most of the video content was provided by media project ‘Ukrainer’.
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 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 per July 2022.
Pictured image by Dmytro Kornilov
