On March 25 in Rotterdam, during the Rotterdam Photo 2026 festival, the photo exhibition “Memory Map” opens — a project by Paval Kryčko about political upheavals in Belarus.
The project is dedicated to the ongoing Belarusian crisis and is an attempt to show the challenges Belarusians face both at home and in exile.
Through portraits and scenes of everyday life, the author explores the consequences of 2020 in Belarus, examining a nation caught in a state of uncertainty.
“While global attention is focused on the war in Ukraine, Russian aggression, and changes in US policy, a country trapped in an authoritarian deadlock often remains unnoticed. Belarus continues to be under constant pressure from Moscow, experiencing the consequences of nearly three decades of Lukashenka’s rule, the author writes.
The consequences of the falsified 2020 elections and the crushing of the democratic movement are still ongoing: repression continues, exile communities are growing, and former political prisoners face constant uncertainty. My project documents these unresolved consequences, tracing displacement, resistance, and a nation suspended between the past and the future. It shows that life after state control does not end when people cross the border, but continues to shape bodies, relationships, and identity in exile. I am part of this story. This is my life and experience as well. My photography is not only documentation; it is an attempt to understand what it means to be Belarusian when the homeland becomes more of a memory than a place.
The Belarusian experience shows and warns that repression, emigration, and the disappearance of civil society are not just a national tragedy, but part of a global struggle for democracy in a world where authoritarianism is rising again.”
On March 28 at 14:45, an artist talk with photographer Pasha Kryčko will take place. The exhibition will run until March 29.
A longer interview with Pasha Kryčko can be read here.
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