From displaced dreams to creative reality

‘Displaced’ is a tricky word and not one you see all that often in the media. Perhaps because it doesn’t particularly provoke strong emotions compared to, say, ‘refugee’. Yet we learnt just how the two stand side by side – literally – when we partnered with the founders of KiNO during our Canon Young People Programme workshops with young Ukrainians.

Filmmaker and photographer Valya Korabelnikova and film director Vera Pirogova have spent the last two years delivering film and photography lessons to over 300 displaced and refugee Ukrainian teenagers. These young people have found themselves scattered across Europe, coping with loss, fear, homesickness, uncertainty and so much more. Things that no teenager should have to deal with during the most formative years of their lives. “Because for someone who is aged 14 to 18, this displacement is huge,” explains Valya. They were venturing into the world, learning about society. Their sense of independence was just beginning… and then their lives were turned upside down.

“It’s a huge injustice,” says Valya. “But I felt like I couldn’t do anything – I’m just an artist. I don't have the money. But then I realised that my power is my knowledge and my network, and I can use it to do something good for real people.” Ever since, she and Vera have devoted all their free time to seeking out and working with young Ukrainians, teaching them wherever they are and by whatever means. They offer both online and in-person courses, partnering with local educators and the Canon Young People Programme to make sure students have the right equipment in their hands and the support they need, particularly when Vera and Valya cannot be with them face to face.

For example, they still managed to hold KiNO workshops in Zaporizhzhia, an area in the south east of the country which is home to Europe’s largest nuclear power plant; it has been subject to military attacks since the war began. Through the strength of their connections, they were not only able to find local educators but gave some who had left the city a reason to return by offering a rare opportunity to work in a front-line area. Teams at both the Canon Europe HQ in London and locally at Canon Ukraine stepped in to make sure that the students had the right kit for learning. As you might imagine, the logistics of making this possible are complex, but this pales into nothing when you know that tutors needed to factor emergency bomb shelters into lesson plans. This is, sadly, something which the people of Ukraine are all too accustomed to.

“Our team in Zaporizhzhia had two classrooms ready in case of an air raid siren,” explains Vera. “One is above ground and the other is a bomb shelter. They have a big presentation screen in there for lessons and everything is prepared. People have to shelter for hours here sometimes, and we are very grateful to the teachers and Zaporizhzhia Youth Centre who made this possible.”

Overall, Vera and Valya have facilitated workshops in Ukraine, Estonia, Georgia, Germany and the UK, covering a wide range of techniques, from documentary photography and working with analogue cameras, to collage and street shooting. Together, they have created a community of young Ukrainian artists who are using their creativity to explore and process their new world, but the work they are creating is far from just a way to cope. “The students create high-end artworks,” says Valya “For us, it's important that KiNO is not just social art therapy. We’re really trying to find something new in visual art with every student.”

The consensus is that they have succeeded. As much as possible, every KiNO course concludes with an art exhibition – even the one in Zaporizhzhia. It’s an opportunity to bring their new communities together and share their accomplishments, as well as their perspectives. The local Canon teams in each country support Vera and Valya in printing their students’ artworks, ready for display in their location of choice. Of course, the work is not just photography, and they have also shown many films during these events. The work is mature, as you might expect, but it is also skilled, intelligent and executed with the kind of professional polish that you might expect from creatives far older than themselves. This is testament to nothing but love for their medium, commitment to their art and being with educators who view them as the future of storytelling.

The pair do not sugar coat what it takes to be successful, the long hours, late nights and early mornings. And, for them, every student benefits from their tutor’s field experience. But even though it can be difficult to balance their lives as both artists and teachers, they are all energy, optimism and determination. “We have big plans,” says Valya, simply. No doubt they will be growing this young community of Ukrainian creatives even further and helping them to turn the stories of their displacement into a powerful artistic movement.