'Faces of the Orange Revolution' on display at Columbia University (03/20/05)

'Faces of the Orange Revolution' on display at Columbia University

by Adrianna Melnyk
Special to The Ukrainian Weekly

NEW YORK - On Friday, February 18, Columbia University unveiled "Faces of the Orange Revolution," a photography exhibit displaying works by Kyiv photographer Kyrylo Kysliakov, who documented people's participation in Ukraine's peaceful civil disobedience campaign in November-December 2004.

Unlike many of the photographs that were distributed by press services at the time of the Orange Revolution, Mr. Kysliakov's photographs portray individual faces, replete with expressions ranging from the giddiness and joy of children to the raw emotion of a young woman about to burst into tears (of happiness, one can assume). Mr. Kysliakov manages to capture many moments, all notable. Some of famous figures portrayed include opposition leader Yulia Tymoshenko, now Ukraine's prime minister, in one of her characteristically haute couture orange ensembles, in this case, an ornate sweater with cut-outs at the neck, and Oleh Rybachuk, today vice-prime minister for European integration, leading a band of opposition supporters down a wide snowy boulevard in Kyiv.

Other photographs portray the average man, woman or child on the street at the time of the revolution.

Some attest to the almost holy undertone of the movement: in one photograph, a woman holds an angelic-looking child, wrapped in an orange scarf and illuminated by the light of a candle.

One particularly amusing moment is captured in another photograph: a man in a crowd notices the camera is focused on him and smiles impishly for it.

Still others speak to the seriousness with which participants treated the events of late last year: in one photograph, a young man holds a sign that reads "Moya Khata na Maidani" - My home is on Independence Square.

Also on display are memorabilia of the Orange Revolution, including the Appeal of the International Community in Support of Democracy in Ukraine, which collected hundreds of signatures in November and December of last year. The November 25, 2004, issue of Kyiv Post whose front page reads "Revolution?" is shown, as are samples of leaflets that were distributed to people on Independence Square telling them "Ty ne bydlo" - You are not cattle and "Pora vstavaty" - Time to rise up. Finally, the ubiquitous orange "Tak!" Yushchenko scarves are shown. As one visitor to the exhibit said, "What a strange feeling to look down at a display case and see that what you are wearing is being shown as part of an exhibit."

The exhibit was housed in Lehman Library's West Reading Room, third floor of the International Affairs Building, Columbia University, 420 W. 118th St. (at Amsterdam Avenue), through March 11, when it was moved to the university's Low Library, where it will be on view until mid-April.

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