8 cities, dozens of stories: “Chronicles of Evacuation” exhibition comes to Mykolaiv

This summer, from July 28 to August 17, the M. L. Kropyvnytskyi Central City Library in Mykolaiv hosted the documentary photo exhibition Chronicles of Evacuation by the EAST SOS Charity Foundation.

The exhibition featured 60 photographs telling the stories of civilian evacuation from the frontline areas of Donetsk, Dnipropetrovsk, Zaporizhzhia, Sumy and Kherson oblasts. The photographs capture moments of leaving home, waiting for assistance, and making the dangerous journey in search of safety.

Over the period of almost three weeks, around hundred people visited the exhibition, including representatives of the civil society, among them the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, the Right to Protection Charitable Foundation, and the National Advocacy NGO.

“There is so much pain and suffering in this exhibition, so much of our reality and the tragedy that Ukraine is going through right now. Of course, there is pain. That is the first emotion. But there is also hope: there was an evacuation, these people were taken to safety and they regained hope for life, for continuing their lives, and for their future,” said Lolita, a visitor to the library.

The presentation of the exhibition in Mykolaiv was also an opportunity to share more about the day-to-day work of the EAST SOS team. We express our sincerest gratitude to the M. L. Kropyvnytskyi Central City Library for providing a space for these stories, and to all everyone who visited the exhibition for their empathy with the people forced to leave their homes because of the war.

The exhibition had previously been presented at major international events in Kyiv and in seven other Ukrainian cities in Ukraine as well as abroad, including Warsaw. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, the EAST SOS team has helped more than 98,000 people evacuate from danger, including more than 16,000 people from groups with limited mobility, older people, and people with disabilities.

The “Chronicles of Evacuation” exhibition is implemented as part of the project “MESH: Multisectoral Emergency Support for High-Severity Hromadas” by the EAST SOS Charity Foundation, coordinated by the Right to Protection Charitable Foundation and supported by the Ukraine Humanitarian Fund (UHF).