A Сollection of Photo Negatives From the Druzhkivka Newspaper "Okno" is Now on the Urban Media Archive Website

The Druzhkivka weekly newspaper "Okno" was founded in November 1994 by entrepreneurs Serhiy Bazanov and Mykhailo Berlin and operated until 2006. They entered local politics to counter the old Communist apparatchiks, who, by inertia, were still running local self-government bodies after the collapse of the Soviet Union. The newspaper's founders were the insurance company "ASKO-Donbas Pivnichnyi" and the printing firm "PrimaPress," which it had established. The emergence of the new newspaper put an end to the local authorities’ monopoly on the information space, providing a platform for criticism of the government and the Soviet past. The newspaper focused on business issues, culture, and history, which led its opponents to label it "petty-bourgeois."

The photo archive of the "Okno" newspaper was submitted for digitization by Druzhkivka-based journalist and local historian Yevhen Fialko. It contains 35mm negative film, shot and organized by the newspaper’s photographer, Volodymyr Volkov, between December 1994 and June 2000, when Volkov ended his collaboration with the publication.

The collection features a range of subjects related to the everyday life and rituals of a post-Soviet city: New Year's and professional holidays (Machine Builder's Day, Public Utilities Workers' Day) alongside the continued observance of holiday dates from the Soviet ideological calendar (Victory Day, May Day, October Revolution Day), city days, fairs, and events organized by cultural and educational institutions. However, the collection also documents phenomena new to post-Soviet reality—protests and rallies, privatization processes, shareholders' meetings, the opening of banks and high-end stores, promotional events and campaigns, beauty pageants and awards, as well as scenes depicting social issues that had not previously been the subject of public attention (abandoned buildings, unfinished construction projects, drug addiction, poverty, and orphanhood). In addition, the photo archive contains images that offer a behind-the-scenes look at the inner workings of a printing company and a newspaper’s editorial office. These include daily work scenes, corporate celebrations featuring creative performances, promotional shots, presentations, and, of course, ID photos for employees and their acquaintances.

We invite you to browse the collection at this link.

Images

Top: Photograph for the 100th issue of “Okno,” 35 mm black-and-white negative, 1996 / Collection of the Druzhkivka weekly newspaper “Okno” / Urban Media Archive of the Center for Urban History