Artem Havryliuk, an exchange student from the Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) has brought the Unissued Diploma’s initiative to UMass, where it is displayed in the Learning Commons on the lower level of the W.E.B. Du Bois library.
Unissued Diplomas is a worldwide initiative created by the Ukrainian Academy of Leadership to honor students who were killed due to Russian aggression. It was created to show the world the effects of the ongoing war and commemorate the memory of students that were unable to graduate.
Havryliuk’s exhibition displays photographs and descriptions of 22 Ukrainian students that were killed during the war by Russia’s attacks. The photos are presented with a makeshift diploma underneath written in both Ukrainian and English. The “diplomas” display where the students were studying, their major, what they were doing in life and how they were killed. They are all stamped and signed with the word “bravery.”
The exhibition has been staged over one hundred times in many locations around the world on the continents of Europe, Asia, Australia, North America and Africa.
Havryliuk hopes the exhibition will remind American students of their privileges and the ongoing war in Ukraine. He aims to raise awareness and encourage students to think about the global context and their role in promoting peace.
“A lot of people have forgotten about the war in Ukraine,” explained Havryliuk. He found that people have questioned how the war is still going on.
Havryliuk says “the worst thing is to be forgotten,” and he wanted to commemorate innocent lost lives. That, and the lack of knowledge American students have about the war in Ukraine, is what inspired him to bring this exhibition to UMass.
Havryliuk wants to show American students what he calls “war in the twenty first century.”
“It’s not that people on the front line are suffering,” said Havryliuk, “They are, but also innocent people who are living in what are considered peaceful places in Ukraine can get hit by a rocket anytime. It’s not World War Two. It’s twenty first century with a high technologies that are aimed to kill people.”
Kristen Abair, a senior public policy major at UMass who was observing the exhibition, said it made her remember how fortunate she is to live in America.
“In the holiday season, it’s just important to recognize how lucky we are to [be] able to be in a safe campus environment and acknowledge the wars that are going on around the world, and especially in Ukraine,” she said.
Havryliuk faced challenges in finding a space for the exhibition, initially being refused by the Amherst art gallery. He collaborated with UMass librarians, who helped him secure a space in the Learning Commons. Despite initial setbacks, the exhibition is now displayed in a high-traffic area of the library. Havryliuk said he is very grateful to the library staff for their support in making the exhibition possible.
Anna Nagurney, the Eugene M. Isenberg chair in integrative studies and board member at the KSE who oversees the exchange program, is proud of Havryliuk.
“Having a newly arrived exchange student from Ukraine being able to handle the logistics behind this poignant exhibition at UMass Amherst impressed me and touched me,” Nagurney said. “It is a must see for everyone in our community.”
The exhibition will be up until the end of the semester.
Daniella Pikman can be reached at [email protected]
