Behind the Scenes of 2021 Ukrainian Heritage Calendar - Artem Belskyy’s Story

Artem is featured on July`s page of the 2021 Ukrainian Heritage calendar. This is his story:

During our photoshoot, I was worried about my performance in front of the camera (I’m being sarcastic).  I was happy to be a part of the 2021 Ukrainian Calendar and share this experience with likeminded Ukrainians and have an opportunity to learn more about and share with the world our ethnic heritage.

 I was amazed and impressed by the antique costumes used in the calendar and how great they looked in the photographs.  Before joining this project, I didn’t realize that each region of Ukraine had its own unique clothes specific to that region.

This project brought back memories when my cousin and I were running around the village in Ukraine as children and our grandma was not too happy with our mischievous behavior.  Overall, this experience awakened in me a desire to identify more with my culture.  To be honest, in the past there were moments when I was ashamed of my heritage because of personal insults I received and how Ukrainian culture was misrepresented.  I’m grateful for this experience as it led me to see and understand the true beauty of Ukrainian culture.