From December 24,2012 to January 31, 2013, #VSEGDARYADOM, the most unusual and touching New Year photo exhibition, will take place in the Aeroexpress Terminal at the Sheremetyevo Airport. Semyon Syomin has become the soul, mastermind and organiser of this event. Semyon, an eight-month-old baby with Down’s syndrome, is the son of Evelina Bledans, a popular theatre and cinema actress, singer and TV presenter, and filmmaker and producer Alexander Syomin. The main heroes of this exhibition are those who all of us constantly think about and always want to see close to us, which is why their photos often grace the screens of our mobile phones. They are our children. Aeroexpress passengers now have the chance to visit an exhibition featuring the mobile photos of such children.
For modern people, mobile phones are the main devices connecting them to the larger world. A phone can say more about its owner than any other gadget. Telephone interaction starts with a screensaver representing a person’s own little world, with a picture of a beloved child. Virtually every parent has such a picture on his or her screen, regardless of whether he or she is a celebrity, mid-level manager or just simple worker.
Semyon Syomin, a small boy of “8 months, 47 chromosomes, and many thoughts” is a popular blogger, despite his young age. He currently has an estimated ten thousand of readers. And, of course, he is also the beloved and desired baby of Evelina Bledans and Alexander Syomin. Both his mother and father have his photo on their screensavers. Once Semyon asked his followers on Twitter to send him their mobile screensavers if they feature photos of their beloved children. So Semyon began receiving various pictures of children: regular kids and ‘special-needs’ children, those who are small and somewhat grown-up, those having 46 chromosomes and those with 47. That was the start of the unusual and touching story called #VSEGDARYADOM. Modern gadgets make it possible for our children, who are so different and so dear to us, to always be close to us.
“The idea to arrange such an exhibition is wonderful. I have a photo of my child on my mobile phone screensaver. And almost all my colleagues do, too,” explained Vadim Semikin, Chief Public Relations Officer for Aeroexpress. “Our company has the pleasure to support this excellent initiative. When going on some business trip, or while sitting in the airport waiting area or the Aeroexpress Terminal, it is so warming to look at the mobile phone screen and realise that your child is always close to you, despite any amount of distances.”
Little Semyon’s positive blog represents an island of small hope for those parents who have children with Down’s syndrome or any other illness. That is another peculiar feature of the exhibition. It does not delineate children according to who is healthy and who is deemed sick as typically done in modern society. Here they all are beloved, desired, and, what is even more important, happy. These children’s photos will certainly bring a feel of kindness, light, and happiness to the hearts of all visitors to the exhibition.