Until the end of the month, the European Parliament will host an exhibition to highlight the stories of resilience of the people in Ukraine.
Named 'The Lights Stay On', the documentary photo exhibition promises visitors a visual narrative of moments of hope, courage, and perseverance demonstrated by 15 Ukrainians in the face of war, since Russia’s full-scale invasion in 2022.
“They include power engineers repairing lines under shelling, doctors keeping hospitals running during blackouts, and families finding ways to stay connected despite constant outages,” explained a spokesperson for the event.
The illuminated “windows” of the exhibition will give an insight into the reality of those who persist amidst the devastation of war.
The concept of the exhibit draws inspiration from René Magritte's ‘L'état de veille’, a painting in which glowing windows are depicted in the sky among clouds, which can be interpreted as “a surreal play between presence and absence,” according to the exhibit’s organisers.
“In this exhibition, the image gains new meaning: for Ukrainians, these glowing frames portray bombed buildings, where the walls are gone and only the open sky can be seen through the shattered windows. Through it all, the windows continue to shine,” the organisers added.
The photographs will be on display from 15 to 26 September at the European Parliament’s Info Hub.
The exhibition was created through a collaboration between the European Union, the United Nations Development Programme, The Ukrainians Media and the creative agency Authera.
