Anna Meerson, Thomas Keenan, and Serguei Oushakine had their work recognized by The Art Libraries Society of America’s “Library Exhibitions Review,” a publication that recognizes exemplary displays of library exhibitions and best practices. 

The trio was acknowledged for their work on a pair of Digital Princeton University Library (DPUL) exhibitions, “Igor Savchenko and Contemporary Belarusian Photography” and “Ukrainian Art in Times of War.” 

The former is the largest US-based digital archive of visual works produced in Minsk in the 1980s–2010s. The latter features works of Ukrainian artists created during Ukraine’s current war with Russia. 

Meerson, the Library Collections Specialist for Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Collections, alongside Keenan, the Slavic, East European, and Eurasian Studies Librarian and Oushakine, the Professor of Anthropology and Slavic Languages and Literatures, were responsible for the strategic development and design of these digital collections. 

“There’s nothing more rewarding than knowing that the results of your work haven’t vanished into the vast expanse of data and information, that your message has been received, and that your voice, or the voices of those you represent, has been heard,” Meerson said. 

Among her favorites in the collections is the piece “Enei.” The oil on canvas diptych by Ol’ha Kravchenko presents a child peering out of a window in one image, and a scene of a bombing by a Russian cruise missile out of that same window.

“I would love to highlight one multimedia art project from the collection of Ukrainian artists called ANTIDOTE,” Meerson added, which was created by Volodymyr and Liudmyla Padun.

“In my opinion this is a very powerful message about the perception of the world by people going through the horrors of war. About the constant existence between life and death, between the blue sky and grass stained with blood, between the singing of birds and the roar of machine-gun fire. And about the fact that the only antidote to the trauma inflicted by war is the thirst for life and hope, the ability to see and appreciate beauty, and to create new life and new art,” Meerson said.

“Art has always been my passion, and I have always seen it as a powerful form of silent expression,” Meerson said. “Can it evoke feelings in us, just as poetry, music, and literature do? What can it convey when words and actions fail?”

In curating the exhibition of Ukrainian artists, Meerson hopes that it helps give those artists a voice and shines a spotlight on their experiences by introducing their work to a larger audience amid the war. 

“I love my job and feel incredibly fortunate to contribute to the development of such diverse and fascinating collections, including Soviet posters, beautifully illustrated music scores, photo archives, original artworks, ephemera, digital and special collections,” Meerson said. “My work is always engaging, full of exciting discoveries, and offers endless opportunities for research and skill development.”