Rufina Bazlova. Aachen 2022. Photo: Monika von Bernuth.

 

Works from the cycle The History of Belarusian Vyzhyvanka. Exhibition Outpost, curated by Arne Linde.
Kunstverein, Dresden, 2022. Photo: Anja Schneider.

The History of Belarusian Vyzhvanka cycle was an artistic response to the peaceful decentralized protests that erupted across the Republic of Belarus in 2020 over the rigged presidential election results. The title of the cycle is based on a linguistic pun: „vyshyvat” means to embroider in Belarusian, while „vyzhyvat“ means to survive. The cycle is grounded in recognizable traditional Belarusian ornament forms and the white-red colour combination, which is forbidden in Belarus due to its association with the opposition political symbols. 

The cycle includes works in various forms and techniques. There are digital graphics, hand and machine embroideries, animation, silkscreen prints, stamp prints and others. Digital works found on vyzyvanka.com

Solidarity with Soligorsk, silkscreen print 2020. Photo: Rufina Bazlova.

 

An attempt, or what is natural is forbidden in Belarus, hand embroidery, 2021. Photo: Rufina Bazlova

Saga of protests. Exhibition Screaming of the Silenced. The Grey Space in the Middle, The Hague. Photo: Pieter Kers for Beeld.nu.

 

Detail on Saga of protests, machine embroidery, 2021. Photo: Daria Rudko.

 

The installation of three flags Such a Minsk in front of DAS MINSK Kunsthaus, Potsdam, 2022. Photo: Ladislav Zajac.

 

The installation The Female Triumvirate, created in collaboration with Vera Sous, Monika von Bernuth, clients of women’s art workshop Spectrum (Rheinischer Verein) and the women of the Sticktreff Aachen. Aula Carolina, Aachen, 2022. Photo: Martin Hassel.

For the past 5 years, Rufina has utilized traditional folk embroidery to depict socio-political issues in Eastern Europe, creating a language that resonates with Slavic cultures while remaining accessible internationally. The most significant works of the cycle are Saga of Protests - a seven-meter canvas that depicts the most important events and famous characters of the post-election protests in 2020; collaborative work The Female Triumvirate to honor three Belarusian women, who got the Charlemagne prize in 2022 in Aachen; or the installation Such a Minsk presenting three flags hanging in front of the Das Minsk Museum in Potsdam, etc.

 

#FramedinBelarus project. The portrait of political prisoner Yauhen Prapolski. Photo: Lucas Cetera

Since the political situation has not changed much after protests is 2020, the #FramedinBelarus project became a natural continuation of the cycle. It is an long-term social engaged art project, which aims to pay attention to human rights violations in Belarus by involving people and various communities to stitch stories of political prisoners using folk embroidery as a non-traditional tool of political protest.

Rufina creates original patterns of portraits, but each participant of the project becomes the creator of his/her unique embroidery and one of the many authors of this project. Participants join it on a voluntary basis, both online and in person at workshops that are organized in cooperation with different art and human rights institutions. The finished works participants send back to Rufina. Since the beginning of the project in 2021 more than 800 people from 41 countries have joined it. The current archive collects over 600 embroideries including additional text comments and photos of the process. From this participants’ feedback it became clear that the project has an educational effect, provides an alternative method of psychological support and inspires people to become more politically and socially active.

So, through the collaborative approach, the project has become a kind of small movement that engages diverse communities and individuals in the creation process and provides an opportunity to express solidarity, creates a space for support and discussion, giving a voice to those who were silenced. Rufina and her team are currently in the process of making the archive available to viewers online. 

To see the project activities visit: framedinbelarus.net.

#FramedinBelarus project. Photo of the process of creating a portrait of political prisoner Dzmitry Panko. Photo: the author of the embroidery.

#FramedinBelarus project. Photo of the process of creating a portrait of political prisoner Yahor Mikhailau. Photo: the author of the embroidery.

Volodymir Zelenskyi in Anti War Shirt. Photo by Associated Press 

Save Mariupol, digital graphic, 2022

The cover for Yaroslav Trofimov's book Our Enemies will vanish. Penguin Publishing, NY, 2024
In 2024, Penguin Publishing published a book by Yaroslav Trofimov Our enemies will vanish with Rufina’s illustration on the cover.

Since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Rufina has created several works in solidarity with Ukraine. In August 2022 the Ukrainian president Volodymir Zelenskyi opened Ukraine’s week of independence wearing an Anti War shirt with Bazlova’s pattern. It was a solidarity campaign created in collaboration with Ukrainian brand Indposhiv. 

Rufina Bazlova (1990) is a Prague-based, Belarus-born intermedia artist. She got a Master degree in illustration and graphics from the Ladislav Sutnar Faculty of Design and Art at the University of West Bohemia and a second Bachelor degree in stage design of Alternative and Puppet Theater from the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague.

In her artistic practice, Rufina explores collective practices, memory and identity, and interrogates decolonization through the lens of a feminist perspective. Through performative practices, activism, objects, the intimate medium of stitching etc. Rufina often addresses fundamental human questions such as connection to nature, and balancing between the interdependence of life and death, power and solidarity, sacrifice and victimhood, justice and forgiveness, etc. The artist compares attitudes toward these concepts in the past and the present by highlighting the cyclical patterns of history, human behavior and nature.

In 2023 Rufina Bazlova was a fellow of the ArtsLink program and spent residency at the Hyde Park Art Center in Chicago.

Maria Sorensen is an independent art curator, writer and researcher. Combining her experience of growing up in an authoritarian country with her background in Film and Visual Arts , her curatorial practice focuses on highlighting important societal issues using strong and powerful artistic language. She writes for Index on Censorship covering cultural and political matters and has previously worked for various film channels curating a World Cinema program. Having lived and worked in the US, London, Copenhagen and Tokyo she is currently based in Switzerland and is a graduate of CAS in Curating from Zurich University of Arts.