One haunting photograph depicts a woman waiting outside the Okrestina detention center in Minsk, where Belarusian opposition activists were held and abused after arrests during the 2020 protests. The depiction of the prison itself is a powerful commentary on the regime’s undemocratic practice of arbitrarily detaining and abusing peaceful protesters. Beyond that, it encapsulates the estrangement and separation inflicted on Belarusian families by the brutal crackdown, with loved ones torn apart by imprisonment and exile. The way the subject waits at the door, hoping for the safety of her loved one inside the prison, can also symbolize the plight of Belarusian refugees abroad, who can only look upon their homeland from the gates, cut off from their roots and unable to stay in reliable contact with those left behind. In his description of the collection, Kritchko wrote:

“We have become used to seeing our relatives once a year unless we were lucky and they were able to travel with us or get a visa. For some, there is no such possibility, because mom or dad or someone close is in prison. We send letters that do not always arrive, and in special cases get to make video calls a few times a year. We are watching from the outside how conditions are worsening for some of the political prisoners, how their health is deteriorating. It has become natural for someone in the family to die, and not be able to go home to the funeral.”

Deprived of that physical connection to Belarus, the exiled diaspora must find alternative ways to maintain their Belarusian bonds and identity. For many artists and journalists, creative work serves not only to raise global awareness but also to grapple with the profound sense of alienation from their homeland.

Kritchko’s “Belarusian Connections” collection also highlights the interconnections between Belarus’s pro-democracy movement and the fight for Ukrainian sovereignty. Since the 2020 election protests, Lukashenko has allied more closely with Putin and allowed Russian forces to use Belarus as a launchpad for attacks on Kyiv. The war worries pro-democracy Belarusians because it heralds the possibility of a similar incursion into Belarusian territory. Moreover, many Belarusians in exile found refuge in Ukraine after 2020, making the attack personal. Thus, many Belarusians opposed to Lukashenko’s authoritarian regime have volunteered to fight in Ukraine’s army, both to support their neighbor’s self-determination and as a proxy battle against Russian influence in Belarus itself. Some fighters have even stated that they feel safer in Ukraine than in Belarus: “I understand who is my enemy and who is not and I can fight back.”

The photograph to the right depicts the harsh realities of life for a coordinator of the Belarusian volunteer battalion in Ukraine. The photograph’s setting creates a sense of transience in the unfurnished room, with the only indicator of place or affiliation being the Belarusian flag in the foreground. This detail reflects the displacement of Belarusians abroad, adopting new locations but bringing their Belarusian national identity with them.