101 reasons to love Ukraine

Here we go! We are launching today a long-term project, “101 Reasons to Love Ukraine,” which will create a new graphic image of Ukraine by means of a concise and streamlined language of the Internet. It is aimed at promoting our cultural heritage, and we start it, quite aptly, on Independence Day. The project envisages making 101 infographics – an extract of the cultural gains of Ukrainian history, ethnography, and anthropology.

This project is a logical continuation of Den’s previous historical projects – Den’s Library and the Ukraina Incognita website. We have always appreciated the visual side of the matter, such as quality photographs and unique cartoons by Anatolii Kazansky, but now, in a new informational epoch, we are heeding the reader and seeking a new approach. “Given the overproduction of information, there must be places where important knowledge is concentrated. The newspaper website’s longtime reputation confirms that it is just the place where every Ukrainian of the world or one who is interested in Ukraine will find the required knowledge,” says Den’s Editor-in-Chief Larysa IVSHYNA. “We want to make Ukraine well known and to acquaint the world with this charming unknown lady, so that more and more people have a chance to know her. She has long been waiting for and deserves this. The project will also be useful for our friends abroad, for it will be also accessible in the English-language version.” We discussed recently the problem of Ukraine’s image in the world. Here is a concrete step to solve it. “The Ukrainians have been influenced for so many years that they have a deep-seated feeling of being fatherless and homeless, of having no heritage. We want to show that this is wrong. We must be ‘responsible heirs,’” Ms. Ivshyna says, pointing to the second reason why the project is being launched.

The project initiator is Yaryna Mykhailyshyn who has already made a cycle of infographics, “The Day” and “Traveling Ukraine,” for the newspaper Den. The team has now chosen 101 most interesting stories. “We want to show a Ukraine worth of being proud of – in terms of her scientific achievements, rich culture, ethnic diversity, and ethnographic variety,” “infographer” Yaryna Mykhailyshyn explains, “A Ukraine that has deep-seated cultural codes and strong traditions of an educated elite, the Ukraine of Vernadsky, Pryimachenko, and Parajanov, the Ukraine of Crimean canyons and Carpathian lakes, princely temples, and Cossack estates, the Ukraine of symbols and printing pioneers. We promise credibility and hope for your attention. It is only a drop in a stormy media ocean. But one day this drop may grow into a mainstream. Discover for yourselves the reasons to love Ukraine. Enrich yourselves with knowledge.”

The project consists of four parts with 25 infographics each: Places, Artifacts, Figures, and Traditions. The Ukraina Incognita website already has an interactively-accessible chapter, where one can watch a video clip of the project. “There is a fierce competition between content creators in today’s Web to attract readers,” says Ukraina Incognita webmaster Artem ZHUKOV. “In reality, it is a tough job to find the best way of furnishing information, when demand requires adequate supply. In my view, visualizing the text is the most optimal step, when you have a vast array of information, and, what is more, our practice has triggered quite a positive reaction of readers to this kind of initiatives.”

We launched the website with a promo clip of the new infographic initiative on August 21 and have received a lot of positive comments. But some comments provoke a controversial reaction. Some opinions sounded as follows: “I wonder if somebody will make a video titled ‘1,001 Reasons not to Love Ukraine.’”, “And how many times a day do you advise to love Ukraine?”, “One who loves her needs no reasons, and one who hates her (Ukrainophobe) will sneeze at these reasons.” So we have one more motivation: to open people’s eyes to a different image of Ukraine, even the eyes of those who have already lost faith. We are learning to love. The reference point is identity.

You can see the first infographic on Mykola Amosov in the No. 12 glossy supplement to Den about the Ukrainians who have changed the world. For more details, see the link http://incognita.day.kiev.ua/101-prychyna-liubyty-ukrainu.