This exhibition brings together photographs created by more than 100 participants from KiNO, a free photography and filmmaking programme working primarily with Ukrainian teenagers and young people. Through images and personal stories, young people in Ukraine, Montenegro, Georgia, Estonia, Germany and the UK articulate their thoughts and challenges, grappling with themes of loneliness, emigration, and the complexities of youth. The project was developed in partnership with the Canon Young People Programme.

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The works were created across diverse locations and contexts. Many of the central individual projects were developed in London and explore personal experiences of identity, mental health, memory and different ways of perceiving reality. Some were taken in a migrant hostel in Berlin, where people shared small rooms and communal bathrooms along the corridor. Others document life aboard a ship in Tallinn through the eyes of young residents, who were among 3,000 refugees waiting almost two years to be resettled. In a frontline city in Ukraine, analogue photographs come from KiNO courses that have been running there for the past four years. Photography gave participants space to feel like themselves, shaped not only by war and displacement, but also by their own interests, ideas and creative choices. At the same time, KiNO sees each young person not simply as a student, but as a practising artist, with the freedom to develop their own work and explore the subjects that matter most to them. 

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Together, their works move between external and internal experiences: adapting to unfamiliar cities and temporary homes, separation from family and people left behind, memories of home, and deeply personal reflections on loneliness, mental health and growing up in unstable circumstances.

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Founded in March 2022 by Vera Pirogova and Valya Korabelnikova as a volunteer initiative, KiNO has since grown into an international educational project, delivering more than 30 courses for over 400 participants and collaborating with 13 organisations. Over this time, more than 20 practising photographers and filmmakers have contributed to KiNO programmes. An important part of KiNO’s approach is helping young artists develop work to a professional standard, so that their projects can become part of a portfolio and support their future creative practice. Some participants have gone on to study at art universities or work professionally in the field, with KiNO continuing to support their development beyond the course.

At the opening on 24 September, KiNO co-founder, photographer and filmmaker Valya Korabelnikova will join us from London to introduce the project and share the stories behind the exhibition

Also, on 26 September, there will be a screening of a curated selection of short documentaries and experimental films created by KiNO students. After the screening, you will have an opportunity to interact with the filmmakers themselves as we hold a Q&A session during which you’ll have the chance to ask them questions directly. The films will cover a range of subjects, including pre-war time nostalgia, the experience of taking responsibility for younger siblings when parents are unable to do so and self-acceptance.

The Canon Young People Programme runs across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA) with the objective to give young people a voice to create a better and more sustainable future by introducing them to the power of creative visual storytelling, aligned to the United Nations SDGs.

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About the venue

The exhibition takes place at UK Parobrod, a cultural centre in Belgrade’s Stari Grad district presenting visual arts, theatre, music, literature and educational programmes. Parobrod is housed in the former Belgrade headquarters of the First Danube Steamship Company, built between 1924 and 1926 and now recognised as a cultural monument.

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Exhibition curator: Petr Antonov

Exhibition producer: Ekaterina Dugina

Project supported by: Canon Young People Programme, Svitlo School, UK Parobrod

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