Immersive Ukraine: Land of the Brave

In the spring of 2022, as russia's full-scale invasion entered its third month, Ukraine's Ministry of Culture and Information Policy commissioned a new immersive exhibition — one that would carry the truth of the war to international audiences. The response was urgent: a team of Ukrainian and Canadian creators reviewed over ten thousand photographs and hours of video footage gathered by journalists, documentary filmmakers, and photographers working on the front lines, and distilled them into a 32-minute immersive work.

Tais Poda developed the concept and directed the exhibition, while RocknLight's designers translated the raw documentary material into immersive scenes that place the viewer inside the events themselves.

Well-known Ukrainian music and original audio composed by Timur Polyansky weave through the footage, binding image and sound into a single emotional experience.

The exhibition unfolds across ten episodes, among them are: the siege of Chernihiv, the destruction of Mariupol, women and children of war, soldiers speaking from the front, and the burial of a Hero. Together, they trace the full spectre of emotions and experiences that Ukrainians have faced since 24 February 2022.

The exhibition premiered in Toronto in August 2022 at the Bloor West Village Ukrainian Festival, the largest annual Ukrainian festival in North America, drawing over a thousand visitors in its first four days. From Toronto, it travelled to Winnipeg. It was shown at the Oseredok, Ukrainian Culture and Education Centre, from October 2022 to April 2023, welcoming nearly 10,000 visitors over six months. In February 2023, the exhibition was presented at the Grand Palais Immersif in Paris, one of the world's most prestigious exhibition venues, before an audience of over three thousand guests, including ambassadors, diplomatic delegations, directors of French museums, and representatives of UNESCO.

Pain, terror, courage, pride, and hope: an incomplete list of what Ukrainians carry every day as they fight for their existence and identity. The exhibition closes with the words of Taras Shevchenko — a reminder that this history did not begin in 2022, and that the story of an independent Ukraine will continue for centuries to come.