Ukraine House Exhibition and Film Screening

As a loyal subscriber to The Kyiv Independent that gives me information with a different perspective on life from a country at war, different from the traditional media, I was happy to see that the online newspaper was involved in two evening evenings at the Ukraine House in Copenhagen. At the wonderful Gammel Dok at the water, where the House is located: An exhibition “The War They Live” and a film screening of the documentary “Curated Theft”, produced by Kyiv Independent.

Nataliya Popovych, chairperson of the House, welcomed the audience on both nights followed on the first night by Irynka Hromotska, curator of the exhibition and on the second night by Yevheniia Motorevska, director and reporter of the film.

Together with The Kyiv Independent, Ukraine House in Denmark invites you to the opening of “The War They Live,” a photo exhibition curated by Irynka Hromotska curated the exhibition #The War They Live” in collaboration with Ukrainian photographer Serhii Melnychenko. In early 2025, Melnitchenko distributed disposable film cameras to Ukrainian soldiers across the front line, inviting them to document their everyday lives, and each camera was returned with handwritten letters and personal artifacts from the war – from pieces of shrapnel to uniform patches and small objects. The resulting exhibition offers a rare, first-person perspective on wartime that captures life beyond destruction and shows humor and routine. Rather than telling a story about the war, the project presents a snapshot from within it, seen through the eyes of those who are living and fighting it. The exhibition features over 50 photographs from the frontlines, alongside letters and artifacts. Join us for the opening ceremony, followed by a reception and a guided tour.

In continuation of the opening of the “The War They Live” exhibition, we invite you to a documentary film Screening of “Curated Theft” produced by The Kyiv Independent.

“Curated Theft” investigates the largest museum heist in Europe since World War II. In the fall of 2022, before withdrawing from Kherson, Russian forces looted two local museums, the Kherson Art Museum and the Kherson Museum of Local History and stole thousands of artworks and archaeological artifacts, including Scythian, Gothic, and Sarmatian gold.

With almost no witnesses on the Ukrainian side and key details still concealed by Moscow, the case remains largely unresolved. The Kyiv Independent’s War Crimes Investigations Unit set out to uncover who organized the theft and where the stolen collections are now.

After the screening (approx. 60 minutes), the Kyiv Independent team will share their experience of documenting the war. Yevheniia Motorevska, Head of the War Crimes Investigations Unit and reporter of the film, together with Photo Editor Irynka Hromotska, will speak about different formats of documentation – from reporting and photography to documentary filmmaking.