The Pokuć project explores the search for Belarusian identity amidst migration, exile, and colonisation. It examines how the phenomenon has been reflected in classical, contemporary, elite, traditional, and folk cultures, emphasising how the perpetual quest for “Belarusianness” shapes Belarusian self-determination. Pivotal to this project is the kut (corner), a visual-semantic symbol embodying multifaceted meanings. The rodny kut (native corner/nook) signifies the Motherland, while a pokuć is a sacred corner in a home. Corners also represent contradictions and borderlines: places of prayer and ritual, but also of punishment; places of safety, yet also of hopelessness and entrapment.

The Krajaviedy series (pen, paper, 50x70) merges landscapes (krajavidy) and knowledge (viedy). These drawings were created on the basis of folk proverbs and personal photos provided by exiled Belarusian cultural figures who were interviewed by the artist. These calligrams aim to uncover the visual-textual code of “Belarusianness” and create affirmations hidden in negative images.

Ciažar blukannia / The Burden of Wandering art objects (wax, wick, 6x12x25) depict fragile wax bricks of our native nook, scattered in time and space. “My native nook, dear land that bred me! I have no power to forget thee!” (by national poet Jakub Kolas, written in 1911–1923, when he was behind bars and detached from his homeland during the partition of Belarus) – these words have echoed through the ages in the poems of Belarusian poets. The words melt into whispers.

Set on the Belarusian–Polish border, in the Podlasie region, the Pokuć video performance (3.15 min, Video by Mikita Kostachka, Hleb Burnasheu, 361° film, Music & set-up by Mufer / Eugene Buldyk) captures a ritual in an ephemeral sacred corner. The artist whispers exiled Belarusian poets’ calls to their Motherland, trying to catch its reflection in the mirror. Feeling and living with the burden of wandering around the world, in new corners we collect and light our ritual fires.

This project is implemented as part of a Free Belarus Centre scholarship program and a Mochnarte art residence.

The first exhibition took place in July 2024 at Marszałkowska | 18, Warsaw, curator Artur Kamarouski, coordination by Karina Dudzińska