Book Launch: Debaltsevo, Where Are You? (19 feb 2023) 19 Feb 2023
15:00 - 17:00
Book Launch: Debaltsevo, Where Are You?
Karine Zenja Versluis and Framer Framed are proud to present the book launch and exhibition of Debaltsevo, Where Are You? What does it mean when you have roots in different countries? What are the stories that are known and what is there to find out? Debaltsevo, Where Are You? is a personal story about the fascinating and elusive search for your heritage.
Photographer Karine Zenja Versluis started her own quest in 2013 when she decided to explore her family history in the city of Debaltseve, Donbas, Ukraine. The place where her grandmother was born. Along the way, for more than ten years, everything went differently than expected. The quest became a red thread in the story.
A story told from different perspectives. We follow the history of her grandmother, who was forced to leave Debaltseve (Debaltsevo in her grandmother’s memories) and work in a German labor camp during World War II. We get to know three Ukrainian families who, due to another war, escaped the city of Debaltseve in 2015, and 2022. And we travel with the narrator herself, from the Netherlands to Ukraine, in search of a city. During this journey, Versluis asks herself how her grandmother’s story influenced her own life. Constantly overtaken by current events her plans change again and again, symbolizing the puzzling search for her own identity. The work consists of archival images, photographs, and texts in English, with an online available Dutch and Ukrainian translation.
Karine Zenja Versluis will present the first copy of the publication to Evgeniy Levchenko who in return will share his personal story and experience with the city of Debaltseve. The presentation of Debaltsevo, Where Are You? is accompanied by a temporary exhibition demonstrating the artist’s quest to discover her own roots and heritage and the process of creating this publication, with – among others – the supported of Framer Framed. In 2023 Debaltsevo, Where Are You? by Karine Zenja Versluis was shortlisted for the Arles Book Awards (2023) in the category Photo-Text Book Award.
The exhibition will be on show at Framer Framed from the 19th of February until the 5th of March 2023.
Program
15:00 Doors open
15:30 Welcoming talk by Josien Pieterse director of Framer Framed
15:40 Introduction by Karine Zenja Versluis
16:00 – 17:00 Drinks
Book Launch / Eastern Europe / Photography / Ukraine /
Network
Josien Pieterse
Director of Framer Framed
