Victor is a Russian worker living in Belarus. He is one of the people who are not happy for any post-Soviet independence. He says, that all the best things in his life happened thanks to the Soviet Union and that the Soviet Union made him a man. Victor is an orphan, he doesn’t even know his birthplace. He proudly shows his T-shirt, saying ‘Born in USSR’. The same is written in his passport.
One day before the parade, a few-kilometres-long column of armoured cars, tanks and military vehicles carrying rockets roll by Minsk’s main arteries, causing troubles in traffic and harming the streets.
Soldier with his chosen one during the preparations for the parade.
Istok was born in Minsk. He has travelled through many countries and recently came back from the USA. He’s planning to start a career as a rapper.
One can still hear the sound of tanks caterpillar tracks, when just a half a kilometre away from the parade, Konstantin and other b-boys start jamming. They quickly gather a curious audience and fill the street with hip-hop and funk music.
Ira and Malvina are young punks. Met in alternative culture spots called Pesochnitza (which means “sandbox”). This former factory site seems to be a good space for manifesting otherness, as it’s full of modern art and different subcultures spending their time playing music and dancing.
Few days after parade, in the underground Belarussian Free Theatre spectacle takes place in an ordinary garage, somewhere in the middle of a soc-realistic block neighbourhood at the outskirts of Minsk. It’s called “Welfare” and laughs on society’s vices, showing them in a distorting mirror, playing with emotions and political allusions.
Kids playing around the Lenin’s monument in a small town Pariche, east of Minsk. Belarus is the last country in the world, that still builds them and there are over 700 streets named after the leader of Revolution in whole country.

In-dependence

3rd July is the Independence Day of the Republic of Belarus. On this occasion each year, the authorities organize a military parade that follows Minsk’s arteries. In this sublime time the city becomes a space of contrasts between dozens of soldiers and regular Belarusians, living their normal lifes. This cycle shows diversity of young Belarussian society.

This project was shot in 2019 around the celebrations, and it meant to show the level of diversity in young Belarussian society. Since then, Belarus experienced many protests against the government what caused it to be even more oppressive. People are arrested just for any reason, big part of younger generation was forced to leave the country. There is no more space for being different. There is no more space for being normal.

One day before the parade, a few-kilometres-long column of armoured cars, tanks and military vehicles carrying rockets roll by Minsk’s main arteries, causing troubles in traffic and harming the streets.

Soldier with his chosen one during the preparations for the parade.

Istok was born in Minsk. He has travelled through many countries and recently came back from the USA. He’s planning to start a career as a rapper.

One can still hear the sound of tanks caterpillar tracks, when just a half a kilometre away from the parade, Konstantin and other b-boys start jamming. They quickly gather a curious audience and fill the street with hip-hop and funk music.

Ira and Malvina are young punks. Met in alternative culture spots called Pesochnitza (which means “sandbox”). This former factory site seems to be a good space for manifesting otherness, as it’s full of modern art and different subcultures spending their time playing music and dancing.

Kids playing around the Lenin’s monument in a small town Pariche, east of Minsk. Belarus is the last country in the world, that still builds them and there are over 700 streets named after the leader of Revolution in whole country.

In-dependence