Art of Resistance Exhibition

The Art of Resistance: Contemporary Art from Russia and Belarus is a stirring testament to the power of creative defiance in the face of authoritarianism. Presented by Artists at Risk Connection (ARC) to mark the World Day for Cultural Diversity for Dialogue and Development (21 May 2025) and to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the 2005 UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions, this online exhibition showcases the work of 13 contemporary Russian and Belarusian artists who, in the wake of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, have mobilized to oppose the war and advocate for peace. As their colleagues in Ukraine were killed, injured, and forced to flee their homes and country, these Russian and Belarusian artists faced escalating persecution at home: arrests, criminal prosecutions, imprisonment, forced conscription, physical assault, job dismissals, and exile. In some tragic cases, artists were killed or died under suspicious circumstances.

The artists featured in this exhibition—recipients of ARC’s Emergency and Resilience Grants for Eurasian artists—use their work to confront war, state violence, and the suppression of dissent. Through painting, performance, animation, and protest art, they explore anti-war resistance, political persecution, and the emotional and psychological impact of displacement.

The exhibition not only exposes the dangers of making art under authoritarian rule, but also highlights the resilience that emerges in response. From strategies of survival and adaptation to the creation of cross-border artistic communities, The Art of Resistance reveals how creativity endures when all else falls apart.

By amplifying these voices, The Art of Resistance underscores that artistic expression, in times of shrinking civic space and cultural erasure, is not only a fundamental right but an act of resistance, survival, and a powerful pathway to freedom.

* Cover image: Philippenzo, “Hypnosis”

Russian Artists

Belarusian Artists

The Art of Resistance is a virtual exhibition, organized by Artists at Risk Connection (ARC) and with the instrumental support of UNESCO, which brings together dissident artists from Russia and Belarus who were recipients of Emergency and Resilience funds through our grantmaking initiative for Eurasian artists. The work of the artists featured speaks to the elastic forms of resistance that creativity under pressure can take. Some artists, like the Russian creative duo Malyshki, play with whimsy and facade. Their piece Where Tenderness Begins, creates hot pink castles out of cardboard which then subvert our view; the cheerful looking structures are merely houses for pieces of heavy artillery that poke out from its doorways. A barely-veiled fantasy is broken; the militarized state hides behind everything. Other works, like Five Minutes Before the Prelude by Russian artist and poet Marina Stepanova, touch upon the affective and ineffable qualities of life under rising authoritarianism. The piece depicts a rib cage against a solemn, blue background, with the outline of a bird in the center. Here, the viewer fluctuates between conceptions of imprisonment and hope, mortality and rebirth. Is the bird itself a prisoner? Or is it the movement in our chest that keeps us going when the world around feels dark and silent? These are just some of the many questions that these works provoke in us. For speaking truth to power, exposing the criminality and cruelty of their regime, or merely for planting the seeds of discomforting questions, every artist featured in The Art of Resistance has paid a hefty price. Some have faced imprisonment, torture, and exile. Others, like Belarusian artist Ales Pushkin–who died in detention in July 2023–have tragically paid with their lives. What unites every artist featured–through both their artistic work and their corresponding interviews–is their enduring resolve, bravery, and willingness to invoke a more honest, more humane world through the action of creating.