Goodbye, Motherland // 2011

War has never been anything close to me in emotional sense. It was a story about “every fourth man who died in Belarus”. But I have never sensed it personally. there was no sorrow, no pain. I have always asked myself: “why is the war such a widely discussed subject?”. the answer to this question was found and it was as distinctive as every personal experience may be. It was the answer to the question “Who are you?” for me. According to your blood. According to your heart. Who am I? my father Leopold’s ancestors were Polish. his father’s name was Blazej. the surname, written on my grand- parents’ graves, Lienkievich, originates from a Lithuanian word meaning “Polish”. my mother’s bloodlines are of Belarusian (my grandmother Sofja Tarasauna) and russian (my grandfather grygoryj Ivanavich) origins. My different ancestors experienced the war in different, and at the same time, in similar ways. Poles from Western Belarus were not taken to the army – my father explains – because of distrust. My father’s cousin was the only one from my Polish part of family who worked for germans during the war and after the war he decided to stay in Poland. When the Iron Curtain fell we visited my uncle Anton in Poland. He lived in better conditions than we did. On our way to Poland, we waited for three days on the Polish-Belarusian border in Brest, the city where the real war begins all over again every evening and you can hear explosions and Leviatan’s voice spread- ing over the museum. my father served here when the Second World War began for the Soviet Union. We stayed three days in the place where my father stayed for three years. My great-grandfather Ivan was an orthodox priest and an enemy of the nation. my grandfather’s family lost everything after my great-grandfather was taken. they had to search for birds’ eggs in the forest… But nobody died because of germans. even my aunt Sonya, my grandfather’s sister, survived the Siege of Leningrad.

Therefore I have started my trip to the world of war, the world I understand and hate, as much as I hate the arms themselves. Belarusian history started and finished with war: “We won. good partisans fought against bad fascists”. I agree with the books of independent historians that say that the war in Belarus had much more in common with a civil war than with world war. there were Polish home Army (the Armia Krajowa), the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, the Lithuanian Forest Brothers (Lietuvos Laisvės Armija), fascists and policemen and among them ordinary people. Almost the whole history of Belarus can be compressed to those four years, years of war. there is only “After”, long time after in 1991, 1994, 1996… 50% of streets’ names in Minsk are related to the Second World War, I mean to the great Patriotic War. 30% are the names of heroes. Armed Forces parade takes place in Minsk every year despite the economic crisis and asphalt damages in the city caused by the tanks. I have started my trip with the feeling that not every- thing can be so unequivocally good or bad during the war. It can only be complicated and unambiguous. yes, that is true. there were many Jews in partisan corps, they were eliminated by fascists, sometimes by locals. not only jerks and careerists were in the police, but also those who wanted to take revenge for victimized relatives. Partisans were not saints too. the photos are only an attempt to talk about the war, about modern attitude to it. Answers, like experiences, are very personal

In this part of the project I took pictures of Soviet documentary photographers - conditioned winners in World War II, carved out of them completely abstract geometric shapes and replaced the pieces of real works of folk art - home homespun "dyvany” and "rushnіki” created after the war. Belarus independence paraide The chapter was carried out from Robert Capa, well-known war photographer, who once said: “If Your Pictures Aren't Good Enough, You're Not Close Enough”. My idea was to "come" as closer to the iconic images of the war, but digitally. Working on the project  I found out the  the separate  "magic" of memory. In this part of the project I took pictures of Soviet documentary photographers - conditioned winners in World War II, carved out of them completely abstract geometric shapes and replaced the pieces of real works of folk art - home homespun "dyvany” and "rushnіki” created after the war. In this part of the project I took pictures of Soviet documentary photographers - conditioned winners in World War II, carved out of them completely abstract geometric shapes and replaced the pieces of real works of folk art - home homespun "dyvany” and "rushnіki” created after the war. I have got the impetus to start work on war  representation  from the investigation of streets names  in Kiev, Vilnius and Minsk. According to this criterion Minsk stands out among three cities: it turned out that 50% of the names in the Belarusian capital were named in memory of the events and heroes of WII. I have got the impetus to start work on war  representation  from the investigation of streets names  in Kiev, Vilnius and Minsk. According to this criterion Minsk stands out among three cities: it turned out that 50% of the names in the Belarusian capital were named in memory of the events and heroes of WII. I have got the impetus to start work on war  representation  from the investigation of streets names  in Kiev, Vilnius and Minsk. According to this criterion Minsk stands out among three cities: it turned out that 50% of the names in the Belarusian capital were named in memory of the events and heroes of WII. I have got the impetus to start work on war  representation  from the investigation of streets names  in Kiev, Vilnius and Minsk. According to this criterion Minsk stands out among three cities: it turned out that 50% of the names in the Belarusian capital were named in memory of the events and heroes of WII. he chapter was carried out from Robert Capa, well-known war photographer, who once said: “If Your Pictures Aren't Good Enough, You're Not Close Enough”. My idea was to "come" as closer to the iconic images of the war, but digitally. Working on the project  I found out the  the separate  "magic" of memory. Considering greatly enlarged photographs, the mind ceases to recognize the photo, or the memory do … . Toking into  the picture, we see at the same time, and not. The part of the project  presents documentary photographs that capture the celebratory events taking place in the Brest Fortress in Belarus - a place that is geographically marked the beginning of the war for Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. Every year, on June 21, at 4.15 (the exact time of the first attack of the Nazis) is going great number of people, including veterans, arranged the solemn processions, the music, the sky started flaming balls and so on. events, which every year are becoming more widespread in Belarus, it is difficult amenable to logical explanation The part of the project  presents documentary photographs that capture the celebratory events taking place in the Brest Fortress in Belarus - a place that is geographically marked the beginning of the war for Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. Every year, on June 21, at 4.15 (the exact time of the first attack of the Nazis) is going great number of people, including veterans, arranged the solemn processions, the music, the sky started flaming balls and so on. events, which every year are becoming more widespread in Belarus, it is difficult amenable to logical explanation The part of the project  presents documentary photographs that capture the celebratory events taking place in the Brest Fortress in Belarus - a place that is geographically marked the beginning of the war for Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. Every year, on June 21, at 4.15 (the exact time of the first attack of the Nazis) is going great number of people, including veterans, arranged the solemn processions, the music, the sky started flaming balls and so on. events, which every year are becoming more widespread in Belarus, it is difficult amenable to logical explanation The part of the project  presents documentary photographs that capture the celebratory events taking place in the Brest Fortress in Belarus - a place that is geographically marked the beginning of the war for Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. Every year, on June 21, at 4.15 (the exact time of the first attack of the Nazis) is going great number of people, including veterans, arranged the solemn processions, the music, the sky started flaming balls and so on. events, which every year are becoming more widespread in Belarus, it is difficult amenable to logical explanation The part of the project  presents documentary photographs that capture the celebratory events taking place in the Brest Fortress in Belarus - a place that is geographically marked the beginning of the war for Soviet Union and Nazi Germany. Every year, on June 21, at 4.15 (the exact time of the first attack of the Nazis) is going great number of people, including veterans, arranged the solemn processions, the music, the sky started flaming balls and so on. events, which every year are becoming more widespread in Belarus, it is difficult amenable to logical explanation During documentation popular in Belarus military reconstructions it was very interesting to turn my  camera towards the fallen in battle soldiers , try to understand what a man feels, even in the context of the history game , how he  experiences the death. During documentation popular in Belarus military reconstructions it was very interesting to turn my  camera towards the fallen in battle soldiers , try to understand what a man feels, even in the context of the history game , how he  experiences the death. The chapter was carried out from Robert Capa, well-known war photographer, who once said: “If Your Pictures Aren't Good Enough, You're Not Close Enough”. My idea was to "come" as closer to the iconic images of the war, but digitally. Working on the project  I found out the  the separate  "magic" of memory. Considering greatly enlarged photographs, the mind ceases to The chapter was carried out from Robert Capa, well-known war photographer, who once said: “If Your Pictures Aren't Good Enough, You're Not Close Enough”. My idea was to "come" as closer to the iconic images of the war, but digitally. Working on the project  I found out the  the separate  "magic" of memory. Considering greatly enlarged photographs, the mind ceases to Here I play as well with the memory, but this time - with a collective memory, visualizing the layers of the history. I took nowadays map from  Google, the real military events maps  and photos, which were made after the event, reflected on the maps. I combined them with modern images from the "inside" events. Such an overlay historical strata allows me to observe the changes in the landscape of the war, including natural. Some pictures visible effects of deforestation, changes in river courses: maps, which used to be carried out combat operations would be useless today. They serve only to remember and see the events of the past. My father's photo, who is the only man in the family who served at USSR army. Brest fortress, the place where WWII starts for USSR in 1941. Soviet army family archive photo WWII begining celebration Here I play as well with the memory, but this time - with a collective memory, visualizing the layers of the history. I took nowadays map from  Google, the real military events maps  and photos, which were made after the event, reflected on the maps. I combined them with modern images from the "inside" events. Such an overlay historical strata allows me to observe the changes in the landscape of the war, including natural. Some pictures visible effects of deforestation, changes in river courses: maps, which used to be carried out combat operations would be useless today. They serve only to remember and see the events of the past. The opposite side of the memory you can find here, where  approximation  took place in a part of the project dedicated to the forgotten heroes of  World War II. I re-photographed  pictures and graphics of the people, whose names once given to steamers, schools and universities, and sometime to the cities. There were important and significant a few decades ago, but not  today. They have become interesting, but hardly distinguishable ghosts. Bottle of vodka dressed as solder WWII post stamps WWII post stamps