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An exhibition about the Russo-Ukrainian war was opened in Taiwan

On April 21, 2023, the National Human Rights Museum (NHRM) opened an exhibition titled "When temporary becomes commonplace: _ / _ days in the lives of Ukrainian women during the war."

The National Museum of the History of Ukraine in the Second World War too part in the creation of the first exposition of such scale in Taiwan, which highlights the events in Ukraine and, specifically, the lives of women in the conditions of warfare. The missing two numbers in the title of the exhibition remind that Russian full-scale invasion and the occupation Crimea are ongoing.

The Taiwan Ministry of culture and a local Ukrainian platform for civil diplomacy “Ukrainian Voices” participated in organizing the exhibition, apart from NHRM. The Museum of Women’s and Gender History (Kharkiv), Ukrainian photographers and artists, as well as the Taiwanese media agency “The Reporter”, whose journalists visited the de-occupied territories of the Kyiv region in autumn last year, provided many materials for the project.

The War Museum arranged the display of four animated videos created by Den Pinko as a reflection on the events of the Russian invasion. The video "Freedom for me means this" was first released as part of the exhibition project "FREE ONES", which was presented at the Museum in 2019, and told about the fate of the Kremlin hostages. It was then that the museum visitors shared their thoughts regarding what freedom means to them. Thus, at present the words of prisoners about their unjustly taken away freedom and the thoughts of ordinary people on the same issue are framed by bright, vivid symbolic images of a peaceful life.

"War Sketches" were created based on the works of the artist Anton Logov and his five-year-old daughter Vira, who were forced to leave Kyiv due to Russia’s armed attack on Ukraine. The video reflects personal experiences and interpretations of the annals of wartime events.

"MultiLiky for the War (MultiCure for the War)" project is a kind of art therapy. The Museum has gathered a collection of drawings by pupils of the Chernihiv Center for Social and Psychological Rehabilitation of Children. 30 boys and girls together with their teacher Natalia Pesotska drew their emotions while living for 17 days in the bombed city. The cartoonist transformed their creativity into the stories of Victory.

The famous "Mariupol Diary" visualizes the thoughts of an eight-year-old boy Yehor Kravtsov. He described the one hundred days of occupation of his native city, which he experienced with his mother and sister throughout the spring and summer of 2022. Joyful events on the pages of the diary alternate with descriptions of wounds, demise of the loved ones, and the perishing of the beloved city of Mariupol.

The videos seamlessly intensified the exhibition, the place for which was chosen for a reason. It was opened in the premises of a former prison for political prisoners from the times of dictatorship, where the National Museum of Human Rights now actually operates. Numerous exhibits, such as audio and video materials, diaries, drawings and household items, depict the physical and psychological burden that people in Ukraine live with today.

The Minister of Culture Shi Zhe, who was present at the opening ceremony, noted that Taiwan may also face the threat of war sooner or later. He called on his compatriots to follow the events in Ukraine, as well as to care about the future of their own state.