Ecology on Camera

Oppositions between man and nature, nature and culture have long been one of the most basic oppositions of our thinking, and laid the foundations for actions and management decisions. Romantic admiration and idealization, subjugation and transformation, or care and protection of nature – all these strategies in one way or another involve the active position of a person and the passive role of nature. However, a closer look at archives and media works from the past allows us to see that nature has always been present and was a valuable and powerful actor of history, while man is only one of the living species on the planet.

The exhibition is an attempt to take a critical look at the power of media, their mobilization potential, and their ability to explain the world. It focuses on the history of environmental consciousness and how visual images from photographs and films establish our framework for thinking about man and the natural environment. We cannot go beyond our own human thinking to understand non-human subjects, but perhaps we will be able to invent a new expressive language and the means to coexist and co-create?

The exhibition is implemented within the framework of the project "Un/archiving post/industry".

Organizers:

• Center for Urban History of East and Central Europe
• St Andrews University
• Pokrovsk Historical Museum
• Mariupol Local History Museum

Supported by House of Europe

Curators and authors of texts: Dmytro Bilko (independent researcher, culturologist ), Victoria Donovan (St. Andrews University), Volodymyr Kulikov (Karazin Kharkiv National University, Central European University in Budapest), Iryna Sklokina (Center for Urban History)

Photos from the holdings:

Archive of Glamorgan County/ Donetsk Regional Local History Museum (DOKM), Druzhkivka Historical and Art Museum, Mariupol Museum of Local Lore, Museum of Druzhkivka School No.12, Museum of the History of the City of Kramatorsk, Pokrovsk Historical Museum, Pshenychnyi Central Film, Photo, Phono Archive (CDKFFA), Dmytro Bilko Family Archive, Victoria Donovan Private Archive, Oleh Maksymenko Private Archive, Kateryna Filonova Family Archive.

Electronic versions of the photos are stored in the Urban Media Archive of the Center for Urban History.

Thank you for your comments and advice, as well as assistance in providing photos: Anna Bahachenko (Mariupol Museum of Local Lore), Sofia Dyak, Olha Zarechnyuk, Maryana Mazurak, Oleksandr Makhanets, Anastasiya Kholyavka, Bohdan Shumylovych (Center for Urban History), Yevhen Fialko (Local history expert, Druzhkivka)

Credits

Cover Image: Mykola Bilokon / Pokrovsk Historical Museum / Urban Media Archive of the Center for Urban History