More than 100 days has passed since protests broke out following the faking of election results in Belarus, and the situation in the country remains tense. ‘The Future of Belarus Powered by Women’, a special exhibition being staged by Fotografiska Tallinn, tells the honest, painful, uncomfortable but also very human stories of the Belarusian women who have not stopped dreaming of a better country despite the efforts of the local authorities.
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‘The Future of Belarus Powered by Women’ provides a documentary insight into the peaceful protests of Belarusian women against injustice. The images of the demonstrations captured by local photographers Darya Burakina, Iryna Arakhouskaya, Nadia Buzhan and Volha Shukaila tell the honest, painful, uncomfortable but also very human stories of the Belarusian women who have not stopped dreaming of a better country despite the efforts of – and threats of violence from – the local authorities. For the first time, Fotografiska will be opening an exhibition on the walls of its 1st-floor café and in a virtual gallery.

“Geographically speaking, Belarus isn’t all that far away from Estonia,” said Margit Aasmäe, the director and one of the founders of Fotografiska Tallinn. “We’re only separated by one country and a few hundred kilometres. But injustice and violence aren’t bound by international borders or confined to a particular nationality – they’re a human tragedy for which there’s never any justification. There’s a large Belarusian community in Estonia, so the pain their friends and family are going through spills over into our country as well. Which is why we wanted to put this exhibition together.”
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The exhibition forms part of a Swedish initiative, the ‘Fotografiska for Life’ platform, which aims to raise awareness of socially important issues and generate discussion through the power of photography. There has been no let-up in the Belarusian demonstrations in the last three months, and the exhibition draws attention to these events through the work of female photographers from the country. The virtual gallery is accessible to viewers around the world completely free of charge wherever there is an Internet connection.

“With these photos, we’re telling the stories behind the images,” Aasmäe explained. “Sometimes they’re uncomfortable, even painful, but they’re as true a reflection of current events as they could possibly be – these demonstrations are happening in Belarus right now. The exhibitions staged on the ‘Fotografiska for Life’ platform are a reaction to such events. ‘The Future of Belarus Powered by Women’ is a series of documentary images, but it focuses first and foremost on the enormous power of a single community. It’s also symbolic of our support for those fighting for their voice and their truth, however beautiful or ugly that truth might be.”

Protests broke out in Belarus immediately after the presidential elections on 9 August when incumbent Alexander Lukashenko was declared the winner. These protests are the largest ever held against the government in the country and have brought hundreds of thousands of demonstrators onto the streets. Local police have responded to the demonstrations with arrests and violence, and some detainees have even been tortured.

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Alongside the national protests, different groups have also formed solidarity chains in the country, including women and the elderly. The women’s marches grew from the ‘Belarusian Women’ channel established on the communication platform Telegram, which in the space of just one morning garnered more than 10,000 followers. The movement quickly gained traction, with thousands of Belarusian women taking to the streets to protest, standing in solidarity in human chains, dressed all in white with flowers in their hands.
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The Future of Belarus Powered by Women’ is a special exhibition of ‘Fotografiska for Life’. It was created in cooperation with the Belarusian platform SHKLO, which unites photographers and visual artists in the country, and forms part of global actions drawing attention to events in Belarus. These actions are taking place in the Baltic Sea region, the Nordic countries, Central and Southern Europe, the United States and elsewhere. The multilingual exhibition, which is free of charge, is open from 27 November in the 1st-floor café of Fotografiska Tallinn and online at www.fotografiska.com/tallinn. In addition to the images, information is provided about the stories behind them and the photographers who took them. The exhibition is dedicated to all those who, despite the threat of violence, have the desire and the courage to express their opinions, as well as to the photojournalists who continue to make socially important stories public, risking their health and their lives to do so.