The Documentary Photo Exhibition “Khartiia: Heat. 11 Perspectives on War” Opens at the Heinrich Semiradsky Gallery

On January 26, the Heinrich Semiradsky Art Gallery of V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University hosted the opening of the collective documentary photo exhibition “Khartiia: Heat. 11 Perspectives on War.” This deeply emotional artistic project is dedicated to the everyday reality of Ukrainian defenders during the summer of 2025.

More than 70 photographs by 11 Ukrainian photographers — Sasha Maslov, Yuliia Kochetova, Valentyn Kuzan, Liza Bukreieva, Heorhii Ivanchenko, Serhii Korovainyi, Nikoletta Stoianova, Pavlo Itkin, Karina Piliuhina, Mariiana Shafro, and Roman Pashkovskyi — capture moments from the lives of soldiers of the 13th Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine “Khartiia.” The images depict combat missions and the training of new recruits, artillery and drone operations, stabilization points, and brief moments of silence in dugouts.

Among the guests at the official opening were Natalia Ivanova, Director of the YermilovCentre, artist and illustrator Hamlet Zinkivskyi, as well as the exhibition curators: writer and public figure Serhii Zhadan, Daria Kryzh, and Roman Pashkovskyi.

The curatorial team constructed the exhibition as a polyphonic visual dialogue: eleven authorial perspectives speak about the human being at war, about the fragile boundary between everyday life and heroism, about responsibility and inner strength. It is this humanity that serves as the key to understanding the exhibition.

During the opening, words of gratitude were expressed to the servicemen and servicewomen to whom this project is primarily dedicated. It was also emphasized that the art galleries of Karazin University function as spaces where, even in times of war, Kharkiv’s culture is preserved and developed, and where art becomes a tool for comprehending history as it unfolds in real time.

In his speech, Serhii Zhadan stressed that documentary photography captures not abstract events but the lives of specific individuals — people whom one could have met at concerts or exhibitions just yesterday, and who today defend the country with weapons in their hands. This is why these works are important not only as a chronicle of war but also as self-sufficient artistic testimonies of an era.

Karazin University continues to affirm itself as an intellectual and cultural stronghold of the city, a platform for meaningful public dialogue where art, memory, and civic engagement come together in the name of Ukraine’s future.

The exhibition “Khartiia: Heat. 11 Perspectives on War” will be on display at the Heinrich Semiradsky Gallery until February 7.
Visiting hours: Tuesday–Saturday, 12:00–18:00, at 6 Svobody Square.