Belarus Protest Art to be Displayed in Large Outdoor Campaign Next Month in Vilnius

Social media initiative, Artists With Belarus, is bringing protest art to the streets of Vilnius in a large outdoor campaign this November. Selected artworks will appear on billboards all over the Lithuanian capital to increase visibility of the human rights violations in Belarus.

“We want to express support, draw attention to what’s happening in Belarus, and expose the artistic reactions to a wider audience,” said Urtė Karalaitė, creator of the initiative. The majority of selected artworks are by Belarusian artists, with other contributors from Ukraine, Poland, USA, Russia, Israel, Ireland, and Lithuania.

The creation of protest and political artwork is rare in the Republic of Belarus due to strict censorship and the risk of persecution. Art perceived to criticize the authoritarian state is banned from public display, and artists are often detained, arrested or harassed. But since the presidential election results on 9 August, many Belarusian artists have made a political stand, sharing art on social media with the intent to challenge the regime.

The election has spurred on-going protests after allegations it was rigged by dictator Alexander Lukashenko. More than 13,000 people have since been arrested, according to the United Nations.

Karalaitė started the Instagram account @artistswithbelarus four days after the election and now has a growing following of 7,400. The online initiative aims to raise support and communicate to the world the injustices happening in Belarus through the medium of visual art, spreading important messages beyond language and cultural barriers.

Belarusian artist Hanna Plotnikava’s painting is featured on the Instagram page. She says the work was inspired by her fellow protesters who were detained in Minsk’s Akrestina prison: “They told me how they were marked with different paints so that the riot police could distinguish who to beat harder and who had already been beaten. Those who were ‘lucky’ enough not to be beaten told how unbearable it was to hear the sounds.”

On creating the painting, she said: “I thought only about the pain and injustice of what had happened. But even after this, these people continue protesting; the Belarusians are very strong in spirit."

Anastasia Rydlevskaya, another featured Belarusian artist, says her paintings are a cry for help: “I wish people could see the horror with our eyes, feel it with our skin. Art is a medium between people; I wish other people to see this horror and help us in some way, just with a kind word, solidarity.”

“This violence and this terror toward unarmed peaceful people who wish to live in a democracy with working laws, shall never be forgotten,” she said.