An artist from Odesa region organized an exhibition at the Lviv Media Forum

An exhibition of photographs by Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi artist Oleksandr Naselenko entitled Akkerman Fortress, 2023-2025 was held at the Lviv Media Forum.

The media forum was held from May 15 to 17, and the exhibition was open to the public all the time, which is what Intent's journalists did.

The author of this photo series, artist Oleksandr Naselenko, was born and raised near the Akkerman fortress, but he never depicted it in his visual studies of his native South and began to pay attention to the familiar landmark when Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi was threatened by rocket attacks and the bridge across the Dniester estuary was closed to civilians.

However, Odesa was mentioned at the media forum not only because of the Akkerman fortress and beautiful views. Valeriy Pekar, a Ukrainian entrepreneur, publicist, lecturer at the Kyiv Mohyla Business School, and public figure, said in a commentary to Intent that Odesa needs events like the media forum. Perhaps in a different format, but it will allow us to reveal the city as one of the sense-making centers of Ukraine.

"At the Lviv Media Forum, we discussed how to treat the so-called good Russians: to communicate or not, to enter the same platforms or not. How we can keep the attention of the Western audience in competition with those who promote pro-Russian narratives. It is important that after three years of full-scale war, we are still continuing this discussion, and this is because we are emotional, not pragmatic. We talk about what we feel, not what we want. The Lviv Media Forum has provided a platform for it, and such platforms make a lot of sense for Ukrainians to be able to communicate their opinions to each other and to colleagues from other countries. However, it is important that we clarify our relationship with each other and agree on how to treat this. There are many forums, but not enough. Ideally, every major city in Ukraine and Odesa, above all, should provide such platforms for us to clarify our internal issues. Of course, this should not be a copy of the Lviv Media Forum, but something else. Because Odesa has one focus, Lviv another, and Kharkiv another, but all the meaning-forming cities of Ukraine should provide space for Ukrainians to clarify the main things among themselves. Not on social media, but live at the expert level," he said.

According to Ukrainian writer and Shevchenko Prize winner Kateryna Kalytko, events similar to the Lviv Media Forum should be held in Odesa because the South of Ukraine needs to develop its own narratives for the whole of Ukraine.

"I would like to attend an event similar to the Lviv Media Forum in Odesa because I consistently and convincingly believe that the South is becoming our new Ukrainian Piedmont and it should develop its own narratives for the whole country, remaining in the mainstream and not being marginalized. Therefore, an event like this in Odesa could greatly contribute to this," the writer emphasized.

Since 2013, the Lviv Media Forum has been one of the largest media conferences in Central and Eastern Europe, bringing together participants from a wide range of countries in the region. Last year it hosted speakers and participants from more than 30 countries.

Кирило Бойко