Photo exhibition about war refugees from Ukraine living in Lithuania opens in Baku
On 22 November 2024 the photo exhibition "Not All of Them. Portraits of war refugees" was opened at Business Center Landmark III in Baku.
On 22 November, 2024 the photo exhibition "Not All of Them. Portraits of war refugees" was opened at Business Center Landmark III in Baku. It was accompanied by a short documentary film "Fotosesija" created by film director Vytautas V. Landsbergis who video recorded the process of photographing war refugees from Ukraine in photo session in Vilnius.
The Chancellor of the Ministry of the Environment of the Republic of Lithuania Ms. Laura Masiliauskaitė, the Consul of the Embassy, diplomat Ms. Giedrė Verollet who is in charge of the cultural projects, and the Ambassador of Ukraine Mr. Yuriy Husyev greeted the guests of the exhibition opening, and the Ambassador-designate of Lithuania in Azerbaijan Kęstutis Vaškelevičius thanked the guests for their participation
On behalf of the Embassy, Ms. Verollet welcomed the audience and noted that Lithuania is among the top 3 countries in the world in terms of population giving the most aid to Ukraine.
"More important, there are hundreds and thousands of civic initiatives in Lithuania to help Ukraine. Most Lithuanians have either opened their homes, donated money, volunteered or otherwise mobilised to help Ukraine," G. Verollet noted.
"Indeed, it is hard to even imagine the human tragedy and pain that the Ukrainian people have been forced to endure for more than 1000 days. Russia's brutal and unprovoked war against the Ukrainian people has shocked the world. Many governments and societies around the world have rallied to Ukraine's aid. It could not be otherwise. Because the world simply cannot afford to repeat the mistakes of the 1930s in the face of an aggressor."
"The eyes and emotions of Ukrainians in these photos reveal more than words can. The exhibition tells the story of just a dozen families. But there are hundreds of thousands of separated families and millions of affected families. Many of them live in Ukraine today with no or limited electricity and are constantly exposed to air raid sirens. Let us not forget them," urged the Lithuanian Embassy.
The Chancellor of the Ministry of Environment, Ms. L.Masiliauskaitė, stressed that Lithuania supports and will support Ukraine until victory. The Chancellor noted that Lithuania supports the Ukraine's Peace plan, highlighting point 8 of the plan, which deals with environmental security and the damage Russia has caused to Ukraine's nature, for which Russia must be held accountable.
Mr. Simonas Gentvilas, Acting Minister of the Environment, and Ms. Agnė Vaiciukevičiūtė, Deputy Minister of Transport and Communications, together with their accompanying delegations, had already visited the exhibition and discussed support for Ukraine with the Azerbaijani Lithuanians at the UN Climate Change Conference (COP29).
The black and white photographs reflect the very personal stories of Ukrainian families fleeing war. Mostly mothers and children who were forced to leave their country when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. The stories heard through filming and photography have been transformed into texts to accompany the photos.
"24 February was a normal day, a child had to go to school", "I say, birds are flying, but there are missiles here", "I should have just run, and then thought" - these are the thoughts of the Ukrainians captured in the photographs.
The event was attended by representatives of the diplomatic corps accredited to Azerbaijan, some members of the COP29 delegations, Azerbaijani cultural figures and artists, and Ukrainian community leaders.
The photo exhibition "Not All. Portraits of War Refugees" has already been exhibited in Lithuania (organized by "Strong Together") and in various countries around the world.
