The Art of Resistance: Contemporary Art from Russia and Belarus
In response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, artists in Russia and Belarus organized to opposed the war and campaign for peace. As their colleagues in Ukraine were killed, injured, forced to flee their homes and country, these Russian and Belarusian artists came under attack, including arrest, criminal prosecution, imprisonment, forced conscription, assault, expulsion from their jobs and institutions, and forced exile. In some cases, prominent artists were found dead or were killed in mysterious circumstances.
Artistst at Risk Connection (ARC), with the support of the Helen Frankenthaler Foundation, responded to the crisis for Ukrainian, Russian and Belarusian artists by establishing Emergency and Resilience Funds, and between X 2022 and December 2024 provided X grants totaling over X euro.
While Ukrainian artists were largely welcomed in Europe, the United States and elsewhere, and often found supportive environments and opportunities, Russian and Belarusian artists against the war continue to be ostracized and marginalized in arts spaces and face great difficulty maintaining their careers and creative work.
Learn more about the artists, view the exhibit and hear from the artists as they explain the context, the challenges they have faced, and the way they have tried to reestablish themselves in the post-war reality, both at home and abroad.
Featured Artists
15 artists are featured in this exhibition, 11 from Russia and 4 from Belarus.
Art Exhibition
Some of the works exhibited here were made possible by ARC resilience funding; others were created before the artists went into exile.
Chapter 1: Protest Art
Russia’s artistic community spoke out against the war. More than two thousand Russian cultural and art workers – artists, curators, architects, critics, art historians, art managers – signed an open letter against the war with Ukraine.
But then the repression started.
Russia
Party of the Dead
Russia
Anastasiya Sukhareva-Morozova
Russia
Philippenzo
Russia
Daria Yurischeva
Chapter 2: Persecution, Prison & Exile
On March 4, 2022, Russia’s parliament passed a law imposing a jail term of up to 15 years for spreading intentionally “fake” news about the military.
Two days later, during mass protests against the war, police detained about 5,000 people in 69 cities, according to OVD-Info. On March 8, International Women’s Day, the police detained dozens of protesters at peaceful rallies across the country. That day women across Russia laid flowers next to monuments to protest the war.
On March 13, police brutally detained more than 850 people for participation in peaceful anti-war protests.
According to Russian human rights organization, Memorial, over 1,500 political prisoners have been detained during 25 years of rule by Vladimir Putin – with nearly 25% detained since the invasion of Ukraine. However, Memorial aknowledges the true number may be much higher.
Among the imprisoned are poets Artyom Kamardin, Nikolai Daineko and Yegor Shtovba, playwright Svetlana Petriichuk, theater director Zhenya Berkovich, husband-and-wife artists Alexander Dotsenko and Anastasia Dyudyaeva, and painter Pavel Krysevich.
Chapter 3: Belarus
Belarus
Mikhail Gulin