{"id":542856,"date":"2026-05-15T23:48:04","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T20:48:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/reform.news\/?p=542856"},"modified":"2026-05-16T08:30:39","modified_gmt":"2026-05-16T05:30:39","slug":"belarusian-photographer-maksim-sarychau-s-blind-spot-project-honored-at-poland-s-talent-roku-2026-competition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/belarusian-photographer-maksim-sarychau-s-blind-spot-project-honored-at-poland-s-talent-roku-2026-competition","title":{"rendered":"Belarusian Photographer Maksim Sarychau\u2019s \u201cBlind Spot\u201d Project Honored at Poland\u2019s Talent Roku 2026 Competition"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"fb-root\"><\/div>\n<p>Belarusian photographer <b>Maksim Sarychau<\/b> has received an award at the prestigious Polish photography competition Talent Roku 2026. His project \u201cBlind Spot\u201d (Martwy punkt) received a special distinction (wyr\u00f3\u017cnienie) in the ZINCALL category.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBlind Spot\u201d is a large-scale visual study that the artist worked on for more than five years: from 2015 to 2020, and again in 2024. The project spans Belarus, Russia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland.<\/p>\n<p>In the series, the author examines spaces where state power extends beyond the limits of law, ethics, and humanity. The project shows how modern technologies, including Big Data and artificial intelligence, are replacing the \u201cmanual\u201d methods once used by security services, while the essence of repression remains unchanged \u2014 paralyzing society through violence.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_542822\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-542822\" style=\"width: 2000px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-542822 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/maksim6.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1429\" srcset=\"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/maksim6.jpg 2000w, https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/maksim6-300x214.jpg 300w, https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/maksim6-1200x857.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/maksim6-768x549.jpg 768w, https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/maksim6-1536x1097.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/maksim6-560x400.jpg 560w, https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/maksim6-1120x800.jpg 1120w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 2000px) 100vw, 2000px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-542822\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Maksim Sarychau. From the project \u201cBlind Spot.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><i>\u201cThe logic of the system is impossible to predict: what was allowed yesterday may become a crime today. This uncertainty breeds fear and self-censorship, paralyzing a free society already at the level of thought itself,\u201d<\/i> the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DYPyB3sDRB5\/?img_index=1\">annotation<\/a> to the project states.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBlind Spot\u201d becomes a place where the most extreme forms of pressure are revealed: from psychological violence to torture. <i>\u201cIn the face of uncontrolled force, the shared fragility of human beings is laid bare. It is a dark mosaic of a carefully constructed system of suppression and fear.\u201d<\/i><\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_542823\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-542823\" style=\"width: 1429px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-542823 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/maksim8.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1429\" height=\"2000\" srcset=\"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/maksim8.jpg 1429w, https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/maksim8-214x300.jpg 214w, https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/maksim8-732x1024.jpg 732w, https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/maksim8-768x1075.jpg 768w, https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/maksim8-1097x1536.jpg 1097w, https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/maksim8-286x400.jpg 286w, https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/maksim8-572x800.jpg 572w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1429px) 100vw, 1429px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-542823\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Maksim Sarychau. From the project \u201cBlind Spot.\u201d<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><b>What Is Talent Roku?<\/b><\/p>\n<p>Talent Roku is an annual competition organized by the Pix.house foundation together with the Voivodeship Public Library and the Center for Cultural Animation in Pozna\u0144. It is one of the most important platforms in Poland supporting authors creating socially engaged photography projects and photobooks (zines).<\/p>\n<p>The distinction in the ZINCALL category includes the presentation of the artist\u2019s works and a professional curatorial consultation.<\/p>\n<p>The competition is held as part of the \u201cPIX.LAB \u2013 Educational Photography Laboratory\u201d project, implemented with the support of the city of Pozna\u0144 and the Marshal\u2019s Office of the Greater Poland Voivodeship.<\/p>\n<p>Maksim Sarychau is a Belarusian visual artist and photojournalist. Since 2022, he has lived in Wroc\u0142aw, Poland. He creates long-term visual projects at the intersection of photography, journalism, and art, exploring themes of violence in its various forms and scales \u2014 both by authoritarian regimes and within traditional society. The artist\u2019s main interest lies in the political and human dimensions of collective memory and history.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"info\"><p><strong>Subscribe to <a href=\"https:\/\/t.me\/cult_front\">Reform.news cultural news<\/a> on Telegram<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Belarusian photographer Maksim Sarychau has received an award at the prestigious Polish photography competition Talent Roku 2026. His project \u201cBlind Spot\u201d (Martwy punkt) received a special distinction (wyr\u00f3\u017cnienie) in the ZINCALL category. \u201cBlind Spot\u201d is a large-scale visual study that the artist worked on for more than five years: from 2015 to 2020, and again [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":542855,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_sharing_image":{"poster":"https:\/\/reform.news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/6a0801021dce9.jpg","width":1200,"height":630,"template":"691142dd","mode":"auto"},"_sharing_image_fieldset":{"dTVKfmI95PYT":"Belarusian Photographer Maksim Sarychau\u2019s \u201cBlind Spot\u201d Project Honored at Poland\u2019s Talent Roku 2026 Competition"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[142375,142338],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-542856","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-news"],"wps_subtitle":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542856","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=542856"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542856\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/542855"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=542856"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=542856"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/reform.news\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=542856"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}