A beautiful picture portraying an absolute idyll. A wonderful family with two children in a furnished apartment. What more could they want? At the same time, we are faced with a closed space without windows and doors. A TV broadcasting the same thing, people whose faces remind usof typical models for advertising of the 60s. All this is more like a prop. A scene from a play where several generations are involved. An idyll built on glossy standards is just a wrapper for a sleeping mind.
An alarming dinner. A dinner in the absence of rights, strength, words.
The work shows the state I am in in Belarus. It's a struggle, a desire to straighten up, to stand up, but it's a struggle behind bars. A fight in a cage that doesn't give in. It’s about vivacity, mobility and energy, all of which are stifled by this cage.
When you can't get a word out, you start painting. The whirlwind of emotions that becomes a lump in your throat: confusion, panic, misunderstanding, anger, frustration - the canvas absorbs all of this. The inner feeling has materialised and is now watching you from the outside. In that moment you stop being afraid of it because you've told what you couldn't tell before.
There is censorship in any country. We are seen as a grey, weak-willed crowd with a "censored" standpoint, no matter how much the censors try to hide or disguise people's attitude, the truth will still come out. My work shows the impotence of censorship in the face of apparent truth.
Erida is the goddess of discord and chaos in ancient Greek mythology.
Belarusians are tired of forbearance, tired of tolerating disrespect and remaining silent. My work reflects the end of patience and the will for a breakthrough in the life of the country.
Today you are held at gunpoint.
Гэтая праца прысвячаецца барацьбе беларускага народа супраць дыктатуры. Белы конь з чырвонай грывай сiмвалiзуе чысцiню i храбрасць, сумленнасць i ўпартасць беларускага народа. Акрамя таго, выява каня адсылае нас да герба «Пагоня», якi з’яўляецца нацыянальным гербам Беларусi.
Siarhiej Vajnicki, from the essay «Voice. Face. Name»