Photography class sells prints to raise money for Ukraine relief charities

Professor Annu Matthew’s ART 214: Photography I – Digital class organized a fundraiser to sell prints of their class projects to raise funds to donate to Ukrainian refugees. PHOTO CREDIT: Hannah Charron | Staff Photographer

As the war between Ukraine and Russia continues, a group of students in photography professor Annu Matthew’s ART 214: Photography I – Digital class have organized a fundraiser to help the Ukrainian citizens caught in the crossfire.

Matthew initially pitched the idea to senior pharmaceutical sciences major Aynur Esenova shortly after the war began, as Esenova shared that she has family in Ukraine. Esenova also has family in Russia and said that the war has led to them becoming more estranged and isolated.

“I thought it was a great idea,” she said. “I know our class has a lot of work we can share and we do a lot in the class, so we made that decision.”

The class’s structure allowed for the sale to encompass many of the students’ prior classwork, with Esenova noting that the class’s work throughout the first few weeks of the semester helped with the variation for the sale, while also making minimal changes to the class’s curriculum.

“We had a really good collection of a variety of photos,” Esenova said. “We’re still working on our personal projects, but this is definitely a big part of the class now and it brought us all together.”

While the ART 214 class is small, according to senior film and sports media major Logan Healy, the class was able to build up a lot of photos to use for the prints and many students submitted multiple prints to be used in the sale.

All of the proceeds raised from the sale will go to World Central Kitchen and Razom for Ukraine. Esenova’s mother picked out both charities, which are providing food and medical supplies to the country, respectively.

“My mom is a chef and we know the importance of food, especially running out of food and supplies for people that are in war-torn countries,” Esenova said. “There comes a lot of issues that can arise spontaneously and it’s important.”

According to Healy, the prints do not have an overarching theme, but instead, reflect what the students felt would raise the most money.

“[Matthew] really gave us direction as to what prints she thought she might see selling more than others, which would be more popular with the general public,” Healy said. “So we kind of went off that.”

In addition to the sale, the prints in the sale will be featured at the Hera Gallery in Wakefield, which Healy said was a major accomplishment for much of the class.

While there are no official sale numbers yet, the print sale has raised around $400 so far, well over their initial goal of $250. Because of how quickly they’ve raised the money, the class will keep the sale going for the near future.

“Just seeing people, seeing students make a difference with the prints, is just huge,” Healy said. “It shows students the possibilities are endless with photography and just anything that you want to do with it.”

Esenova said that while her family in Ukraine is currently safe, with many members now in Poland, the war has had a strong impact on the entire world and the success of the sale has helped show the class that they can help make a difference for people in that situation.

The prints can be found at uriphotoforukraine.com.