The goal of the photo project “My Homeland in the Portrait of My Ancestors” is to showcase the continuity of generations of Crimean Tatars, who preserve the family, national, and religious collective memory of their people despite the trials they have endured in the 20th and 21st centuries. We reached out to well-known Crimean Tatars in Ukraine, asking them to share their family photos, from which the faces of their loved ones look back at us. Some of those depicted in the photos were repressed, some deported. Some were born in Crimea, others in the family’s exile in Uzbekistan or the Urals, and some in independent Ukraine. However, they all share a love for their homeland – Crimea – and their small, proud nation.
We combined these family photos with contemporary images of nine Crimean Tatars, each of whom has become successful in their field. These include the Permanent Representative of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea, Tamila Tasheva; diplomats Alim Aliev and Yusuf Kurkchi; editor-in-chief of “Ukrainian Pravda”, Sevgil Musaieva; actor and director Akhtem Seitablaiev; film director Nariman Aliev; Mejlis member Gulnara Bekirova; photographer Emine Ziyatdinova; and ceramic artist Rustem Skibin.
Team of the project:
Curator – Svitlana Datsenko
Texts – Roman Kabachiy
Translation into English – Vita Pchola
Translation into Crimean Tatar – Permanent Representation of the President of Ukraine in the Autonomous Republic of Crimea \
Text editor – Yurii Bedryk
Management – Yurii Horpynych
Artist – Anton Logov
Design – Anna Voitovych
Graphic design – Liudmyla Nikorych
Installation – Vitalii Bielikov
Public communication – Liudmyla Melnyk