Celebration event: 18 June, 4 – 7 pm, Ukrainian Centre (15 Mere St, Rochdale)

Contemporary Ukrainian photography comes to Rochdale! The Home exhibition brings together diverse projects from 5 Ukrainian artists who offer distinct ways of seeing and thinking  about Ukraine, reflecting on both its history and its contemporary visual culture. Their works will be displayed at Rochdale train station, Rochdale council building, Ukrainian Church and Ukrainian Centre, and will be accompanied by events during the Refugee Week (17 – 24 June). The exhibition is curated by Open Eye Gallery and hosted by Culture Co-op.

Ukrainian curators Max Gorbatskyi and Viktoria Bavykina have selected a breadth of perspectives which range from specially commissioned works in which artists photographed citizens in their current habitat alongside other works that look at identity, landscape, experimental art, folk and popular culture.  

The works will be exhibited in the following locations:

• Yaroslav Solop: The Siren is Sounding. Rochdale Train Station, OL11 1DR;
• Elena Subach: Chairs. Rochdale Council Building, Number One Riverside, Smith St, OL16 1XU (Mon, Wed, Fri: 9 – 5; Tue, Thur: 9 – 6; Sat: 10 – 3);
• Alexander Chekmenev: Citizens of Kyiv. Ukrainian Church, UCC Oldham, Yorkshire Street, OL16 1LA (Mon – Fri: 10 – 1; Sat: closed, Sun: 10 – tbc);
• Andrii Dostliev and Lia Dostlieva: Black on Prussian Blue and inside Igor Chekachkov: The Lives of the Displaced. Ukrainian Centre, 15 Mere St, OL11 1HJ (Mon: 4 – tbc; Wed, Thur: 9 – 4; Sat, Sun: 1 – tbc; Tue, Fri closed).

The exhibition will be accompanied by events during the Refugee Week (17 – 24 June):

• 18 June, 4.30 – 6.30 pm (Rochdale Ukrainian Centre, 15 Mere St, Rochdale OL11 1HJ): celebration event and artist talk to mark refugee week and the Home: Ukrainian Photography, UK words exhibition displayed across Rochdale until the 7th July, organised by Open Eye Gallery in partnership with Culture Coop.
  – 4:30 pm: welcome drinks
  – 5 pm: screening of Home from Home exhibition film
  – 5:15 – 6.30 pm: Artist and curator talk. Photographer Igor Chekachkov will sit alongside Open Eye Gallery’s director Sarah Fisher and curators Viktoria Bavykina and Max Gorbatskyi to discuss the origins and ideas behind the current touring exhibition.
• 22 June, 11 am – 3 pm (Ukrainian Centre, Mere St): Dumpling day, a feast of activities and flavours, celebrating the diverse communities of Rochdale and their shared culinary heritage. Hosted by Touchstones Rochdale!

Home tour was made possible with Arts Council England funding. The exhibition was first shown in Liverpool at Open Eye Gallery in May 2023.

The Culture Co-op is a network of cultural organisations, artists and local residents across the Rochdale borough. Our job is to fund communities to decide what counts as art and culture, where it happens, who makes it, and who experiences it. Together, we’ll create new activities with funding from the Arts Council, through the Creative People and Places programme. This work will be driven by quality, creativity and relevance to the local area. It will also be designed to improve the quality of life of the people who live there.

The Culture Co-op is based on the ideas behind the original Rochdale Cooperative, which was formed on 21 December 1844. And, like the original movement, everybody involved will have shared ownership and decision-making.

Touchstone Rochdale is an art gallery and museum house in a historic Grade II listed building. The building is currently undergoing a major capital redevelopment project that will see the restoration of original features and the establishment of a new dining and museum space, performance space and creative studios. During the redevelopment period, Touchstones is working with communities on co-curated and co-created exhibitions and events, and continuing the important work of maintaining Rochdale borough’s heritage and local studies collections.

Touchstones Rochdale is part of Your Trust, a charity that works in the heart of the Rochdale Borough community, inspiring people to live more active, creative and healthy lifestyles. The charity connects people with their cultural heritage, encourages creativity and fosters wellbeing for every member of its diverse community.   

Image credit: Alexander Chekmenev, Citizens of Kyiv series 2022–2023