Bio, Artist Statement
I was born in Belarus in 1986. Studied languages in Belarus, Poland, and Germany, which later influenced my artistic practice, and let me not be limited to only one cultural context. Different approaches to education in Belarus and Europe strongly pushed me for further personal development. I served in mandatory military service in 2009-2010. There I observed the state system of patriarchy and violence, to which I would later refer in my projects.
I identify myself as a post-documentary photographer and visual artist. I mostly work with photography and modern digital archives, sometimes with video and focus on projects related to national and personal identity, collective memory, contemporary issues, as well as the influence of mass media on the world. In my artistic practice I approach the problems of originality, repetitiveness and authorship, with language being an integral part of it, as well as humour, irony, and simplicity.
After the events in Belarus in 2020, I have been working on a series of projects on propaganda and violence in the region from a historical perspective. My aim as a Belarusian artist is to get the voice of Belarusian artists heard and present us in the world context.
Exhibitions, shows, festivals:
2024 “Ties That Bind” at ORGAN VIDA festival / Zagreb, Croatia
2024 Białystok Interphoto
2024 “Untold stories from Belarus” at the Truths in conflict conference and festival / Berlin, Germany
2023 The Northern Lights Film Festival
2023 Rencontres Internationales Paris/Berlin (special program)
2023 “Are you here with us?” Hilversum, Netherlands
2023 “Inbetweenland” at Month of Photography in Minsk (held during Fotofestiwal in Łódź, Poland)
2022 In Out Festival at CSW Łaźnia, /Gdansk, Poland
2022 “The Highest form of art”, group exhibition at Promocyjna gallery/Warsaw, Poland
2022 “The Highest form of art”, group exhibition at Krakow Photomonth/Krakow, Poland
2021 “Antikoerper”, group exhibition/Hamburg, Germany
2021 “Visage (s) d’Europe”, group exhibition/Paris, France
2020 “Equation of state”, group exhibition at National Center for Contemporary Arts/ Minsk, Belarus
2020 MOST ART Festival/Kaluga, Russia
2020 Riga Photomonth projection
2020 Circulation (s) festival/Paris, France
2020 “Security Apparatus”, group exhibition at Wall-online
2019 Death and dying: between tradition and new imagination/Saint-Petersburg, Russia
2019 Group exhibition at ZGA Gallery/ Saint-Petersburg, Russia
Education:
2024 basis e. v. residency, Frankfurt am Main
2021 Sputnikphotos Art residency, Warsaw
2021 ISSP solidarity residency, Riga
2020 “More than a project”, an online course by Jana Romanova and Maria Morina
2019 Workshop by Simon Menner “Archive: between fiction and reality"/ Minsk, Belarus
2019 Photobook workshop by Elena Kholkina/ Saint-Petersburg, Russia
2017−2019 School of Modern Photography Docdocdoc, Saint-Petersburg, Russia
2016−2017 School of photography “Tseh” (Цех), Saint-Petersburg, Russia
2017 Online course by Artem Chernov “Composition in photography”
Awards, contests
2022 In Out short movies festival, 3rd place
2020 PRAFOTA shortlist and Art category winner
2020 CitiesToBe Photo Award shortlist
2019 College Photographer of the Year, bronze in the Domestic Picture Story category
2018 Nominee of International Photography Grant