Protests, which are the largest demonstrations since the declaration of the country’s independence in 1991, are still going on in Belarus. Protesters demand a fair vote count after the August presidential election officially won by Alexander Lukashenka (who has been ruling the country since 1994) claiming that the actual winner is Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, who – according an independent exit poll – received 71% of the vote.

The open-air photo exhibition features thirty photos documenting the last months of the Belarusian society’s struggle for free elections, democracy and an independent state. Risking their health and freedom, photographers Iryna Arakhouskaya, Nadia Buzhan, Tacciana Kapitonava and Aliaksandr Vasiukovich, who all cooperate with Belsat independent TV and Nasha Niva weekly, have continued their efforts so that Poland and all of Europe can better understand what and with whom Belarusians are fighting for very close to the Polish border. The exhibition was organised on the initiative of the Belarusian House Foundation in Warsaw in cooperation with the History Meeting House.

The Belarusian House Foundation is an organisation that works for human rights, civil society and democracy in Belarus. After almost a decade of activity, it has become the most important NGO contributing to Belarusian-Polish relations and is often seen as an “independent Belarusian embassy”. The exhibition continues their mission, striving to popularise and support Belarusian aspirations among the Polish community, i.e. Polish citizens, the Belarusian minority, and all those who care about our neighbouring country.

“At the exhibition we will see only some of the four-month-long demonstrations as well as detentions and other repressive measures so far carried out against over 30,000 people – says Aleś Zarembiuk, curator of the exhibition and president of the foundation. – Poland and Belarus are connected not only by a common border, but also by common history, heroes, the Belarusian minority and diaspora living in many Polish cities, and the Polish minority in Belarus. For many years Polish women and men have been supporting our strive for freedom and independence. That is why it is so important to show two very different sides of Belarusian society: the peaceful demonstrators, who want freedom and democracy, and the militia that beats, tortures and kills people”.

In addition to the photos, the exhibition features a calendar of events covering the most important dates from the history of modern Belarus. Particular emphasis was put on those moments and events through which the authoritarian rule was gradually introduced and strengthened. This shows very clearly how the regime was strengthening while at the same time the readiness to active resistance in the streets of Belarusian cities, especially Minsk, continued to grow.