Viktor Gurniak, a 27-year-old freelance photojournalist for Reuters, was killed last October in eastern Ukraine while transporting wounded soldiers from the front lines of the ongoing separatist war there.
Gurniak’s photography will be showcased at a special exhibit at the Ukrainian National Museum in Chicago opening Friday, Jan. 16.
Medill National Security Journalism Digital Fellow Nolan Peterson will speak at the event’s opening night, relating his experiences reporting from the front lines of the Ukrainian war to highlight the risks of conflict journalism and his observations from the conflict.
Viktor Gurniak.
Gurniak was a cofounder of LUFA photo agency and a frequent contributor to UNIAN, Reuters, and an online version of INSIDER. He was killed in October during an attack in the Lugansk region of eastern Ukraine.
He is survived by his wife and daughter.
Gurniak’s death came more than a month after a Sept. 5 truce between separatists and Kiev, highlighting the tenuous nature of the cease-fire, which has been marked by sporadic fighting.
According to United Nations estimates, more than 1,000 civilians and soldiers have died in the ongoing conflict in eastern Ukraine since the Sept. 5 cease-fire, averaging about 13 deaths a day and comprising about a quarter of the conflict’s overall death toll.
Peterson spent nearly three months in Ukraine reporting on the war in 2014, visiting the front lines in Donetsk Oblast and Mariupol. He was in Mariupol when the cease-fire was signed.
The event —“Road from the Maidan: In memory of Viktor Gurniak –Photojournalist and Military Volunteer”— will be Friday, January 16, 2015, 7 p.m., at the Ukrainian National Museum, 2249 W. Superior St., Chicago, IL 60612.
Those interested in attending can call 312 421-8020 for more information.
