London to host exhibition of works by Belarusian political prisoners

An evening of art, cin­e­ma and activism enti­tled «Let­ters from Lukashenka’s Polit­i­cal Pris­on­ers» will take place in Lon­don on August 5. The event is orga­nized by Index on Cen­sor­ship, an orga­ni­za­tion that cam­paigns for free­dom of expres­sion. The orga­niz­ers will hold an exhi­bi­tion of works by Belaru­sian polit­i­cal pris­on­ers and screen the film «The Acci­den­tal Pres­i­dent» about Svi­at­lana Tsikhanouskaya.

Poster of the exhi­bi­tion in Lon­don

The action is ded­i­cat­ed to the fate­ful events of 2020 in Belarus, when Lukashen­ka vio­lent­ly sup­pressed mass protests to stay in pow­er. The large-scale and bru­tal repres­sions have been going on for four years, more than 1400 polit­i­cal pris­on­ers are in Belaru­sian pris­ons (the Coor­di­nat­ing Coun­cil gives a com­plete­ly dif­fer­ent num­ber of pris­on­ers — more than 5000), but there is no end to the polit­i­cal cri­sis.

The title of the exhi­bi­tion «Let­ters from Lukashenka’s Polit­i­cal Pris­on­ers» speaks for itself: these are artis­tic mes­sages from behind bars, because some­times this is the only way to keep in touch with free­dom. Ordi­nary Belaru­sians, impris­oned only for dar­ing to chal­lenge or sim­ply crit­i­cize Lukashenka’s regime, often send draw­ings and poems in their let­ters, which were even­tu­al­ly includ­ed in the exhi­bi­tion.

The exhi­bi­tion was con­ceived and curat­ed by Martha Hegar­ty on behalf of Index on Cen­sor­ship. It is based on the project «Let­ters from Lukashenka’s Pris­on­ers,» which Index on Cen­sor­ship con­duct­ed in 2021–2023 in col­lab­o­ra­tion with Belarus Free The­atre, Human Rights House Foun­da­tion, and the Politzek.me plat­form.

Por­traits of Belaru­sian polit­i­cal pris­on­ers at an exhi­bi­tion in War­saw in May 2024, pho­to: BAJ

Dur­ing the action Roast Beef Pro­duc­tions will show the film «The Acci­den­tal Pres­i­dent» about Svi­at­lana Tsikhanouskaya. No one thought that the young house­wife, moth­er of two chil­dren, would take the polit­i­cal baton from her hus­band Siarhei Tsikhanous­ki, who was arrest­ed three months before the 2020 elec­tions.

It was Svi­at­lana Tsikhanouskaya who won the pres­i­den­tial cam­paign and became the sym­bol of the 2020 protests by the thou­sands. Despite the KGB-led regime’s spe­cial oper­a­tion to dri­ve women out of the coun­try, Tsikhanouskaya is still accept­ed in the West as an elect­ed pres­i­dent – a pres­i­dent who won the elec­tion.

After the film, the orga­niz­ers will host a pan­el dis­cus­sion to dis­cuss both the film and the sit­u­a­tion in Belarus.