Odesa Photo Days and Copenhagen Photo Festival join hands in June

Photo by Olena Morozova from the series “Granny”

During Copenhagen Photo Festival on 2-12. June 2022, as something special you can experience two exhibitions from Odesa Photo Days — international festival of contemporary photography based in Ukraine.

As a result of the war, everyday life has come to a standstill in Ukraine. This also applies to the cultural life, which usually blooms in the spring and summer months. The international festival of contemporary photography Odesa Photo Days was to be held on 19-22 May in Ukraine, but as one of the countless cultural events it was canceled when the war broke out. Copenhagen Photo Festival reached out to Odesa Photo Days to collaborate on creating an alternative festival event. 

In collaboration, the Nordic region’s largest photo festival and Kateryna Radchenko, leader of Odesa Photo Days, have arranged for two exhibitions to be shown in Copenhagen during the festival on 2-12. June. The exhibition Granny by Olena Morozova and the group exhibition The Thin Line, both curated by Kateryna Radchenko.

“We are really happy to be able to reach out to Odesa Photo Days and give them an opportunity to realize two exhibitions under our auspices despite the unbearable situation they and the whole of Ukraine are in right now. Our hope is that with this collaboration we can both show some highly current exhibitions and at the same time support Odesa Photo Days and the Ukrainian photographers involved,” says Maja Dyrehauge Gregersen, Copenhagen Photo Festival’s director. 

The Thin Line is one of the Ukrainian exhibitions to be found at the Copenhagen Photo Festival this summer. The exhibition contains photos of artists who, during one night, had to adjust to becoming war photographers on the front lines. 

The Thin Line exhibition features Ukrainian artists: Yurko Dyachyshyn, Andrey Lomakin, Volodymyr Petrov, Stas Yurchenko, Mikhail Palinchak, Elena Subach, Serhii Nuzhnenko, Slava Ratynski, Yuliia Chervinska, Oleksandr Navrotskyi, Alina Smutko, Serhiy Hudak, SHILO group., Pavel Dorogoy, Garry Efimov, Kateryna Moskalyuk

“I shifted the focus of Odesa Photo Days to tell the world what is happening in Ukraine and support photographers working on the front lines, — said Kateryna Radchenko, curator of the exhibition and director of Odesa Photo Days. — The Thin Line exhibition contains both photographs of the current war and earlier series of Ukrainian photographers. For me, this exhibition visually illustrates the state we are in now. When everything has changed, from the daily routine to the level of physical danger, from time to time the subconscious throws up pictures from “previous life”. I am happy for the support from my Danish colleagues and the opportunity to show The Thin Line as well as Granny by Olena Morozova, which is also an incredibly important and relevant exhibition.”

In Olena Morozova’s exhibition Granny, the artist depicts her grandmother’s life and challenge with dementia after a long life as a respected gynecologist and women’s advocate in Ukraine. 

The exhibitions Granny and The Thin Line can be found in the center of the photo festival on Refshaleøen on 2-12 June 2022. Copenhagen Photo Festival 2022 is currently supported by the City of Copenhagen, the Obel Family Foundation and Creative Europe – the EU’s cultural support program. The festival’s final program is updated regularly at the website.

About Copenhagen Photo Festival 

2.-12. June 2022 is the 12th time that the Nordic region’s largest photo festival kicks off. The festival is held in close collaboration with galleries, museums and cultural institutions in Copenhagen and southern Sweden. Every year, established and budding Danish and foreign photographers contribute, and the festival is visited by approx. 55,000 people. The festival puts photography on the agenda under the three main pillars Framing Identity, Framing Society and Framing Vision through exhibitions, workshops, talks, portfolio reviews and social events.