Lesia Pcholka is a visual artist born in Borissow/BY (1989),
currently lives and works in Berlin/DE and Bielsk Podlaski/PL
︎︎︎ Founder of the VEHA archive   

Her artistic practice includes photography, video, installations, and archival work. Through research-based work, Pcholka examines collective memories from the Soviet past and those of today, reflecting on the pressing social issues and processing political trauma.  

2024 – Great Stone. Hoast artist-run space / curated by Ekaterina Shapiro-Obermair and Wolfgang Obermair (Vienna, Austria)
2022 – Weakness Street. Günter Grass Gallery / curated by Anna Łazar (Gdańsk, Poland)
2021 – OPA #12 Kolonia Artystów. Dolne Miasto / curated by Sylwester Galuschka (Gdansk, Poland)
2016 – Visual Diary. National Centre of Contemporary Arts (Minsk, Belarus)

2015 – Seven Dreams L. Pracovna & Laskafe (Prague, Czech Republic)

2024
– FLOW/PRZEPŁYW. Centrum Sztuki Galeria EL / curated by Agnieszka Brzeżańska + Ewa Ciepielewska and Emilia Orzechowska (Elbląg, Poland) 
– We’ll Hold a Wedding on Your Graves. Beyond VEHA Photographic Archive. Copenhagen Photo Festival / curated by Vera Zalutskaya (Copenhagen. Danmark)
– The OTHER SESSION. Docks Cantieri Cucchini. During the 60th Venice Biennale / curated by David Liver and Michael Kaethler (Venice, Italy)
– Sometimes i hold onto the air. Galerie im Körnerpark / curated by Katharina von Hagenow, Uladzimir Hramovich & Paulina Olszewska (Berlin, Germany)
2023
– On the New. Hoast artist-run space at Belvedere 21. Museum of Contemporary Art / curated by Ekaterina Shapiro-Obermair and Wolfgang Obermair (Vienna, Austria)
– LIMINARIUM. Performensk at PlatformB. Theaterhaus / curated by Anna Bakinovskaia (Stuttgart, Germany)
– SOVEREIGNTY REIMAGINED, Maenad Collective / curated by Antiwarcoalition.art (New York, USA)
– 𝖭̶𝖨̶𝖢̶𝖧̶𝖳̶ Unser Krieg. WELTKUNSTZIMMER / curated by Antiwarcoalition.art (Dusseldorf, Germany)
– 21. SURVIVAL Art Review ERZAC. Fundacja Art Transparent / curators Michał Bieniek, Anna Kołodziejczyk, Małgorzata Miśniakiewicz, Ewa Pluta, Daniel Brożek (Wroclaw, Poland)
– LET IT SHINE. Beyond VEHA Photographic Archive. MOS. Municipal Art Center / curated by Vera Zalutskaya (Gorzów Wielkopolski, Poland)
2022  
– BY LAW. Collaboration with artist Uladzimir Hramovich. Museum of Emigration / curated by Maksymilian Bochenek, SUPLEMENT project (Gdynia, Poland)
– Stockholm Independent Art Fair. KX Space / сurated by Lizaveta Michalchuk (Stockholm, Sweden)
– No.10. Alumni of the Sputnik Photos Mentor Program. FAF Gallery / сurated by Jan Brykczyński (Warsaw, Poland)
– When Language Is Lost: Possibilities of Art in the Face of War. ZKM / Zentrum für Kunst und Medien / curated by Antiwarcoalition.art (Berlin, Germany)
– Coalition / Коаліція / Koalicja / Кааліцыя. DOMIE space / curated by Antiwarcoalition.art (Poznań, Poland)
– Distant Tolerable Murder. Collaboration with artist Valentyna Petrova / curated by Anna Łazar and Lada Nakonechna, with the assistance of Museum of Art in Łódź (Berlin, Germany)
– Show of Solidarity with Ukraine. Projections on the MQ main facade and the facade of the Leopold Museum / curated by Hedwig Saxenhuber and Georg Schöllhammer (Vienna, Austria)
– VERSSchmuggel Belarus Deutschland. Galerie intershop / curated by Louise Walleneit (Leipzig, Germany)
– Belarusian female artists. Dialog between the generations. VEHA Archive. Gallery KVOST / curated by Maya Hristova and Jewgeni Roppel (Berlin, Germany)
– Echoes. Voices from Belarus III, ECLAT Hybrid Festival. Hospitalhof church / curated by Christine Fischer (Stuttgart, Germany)
2021
– Belarus – Screams of the Silenced. The Grey Space in the Middle. Den Haag (The Hague, Netherlands)
– Echoes. Voices from Belarus II, ECLAT Festival, Karlskaserne Art Center / curated by Christine Fischer (Ludwigsburg, Germany)
– Freedom, Pain and Hope. KLEISTER / curated by Katja Haustein and Franca Wohlt (Berlin, Germany)
– War, Revolution and Protest in the Female Lens. Dom Norymberski / curated by Iwona Demko and Renata Kopyto (Krakow, Poland)
– Every Day. Art. Solidarity. Resistance.Gallery Mystetskyi Arsenal / curated by Aleksei Borisionok, Andrei Dureika, Marina Naprushkina, Sergey Shabohin, Antonina Stebur and Maxim Tyminko (Kyiv, Ukraine)
– Białoruś: Marsz Wolności. Kordegarda Gallery / curated by Joanna Kinowska (Warsaw, Poland)
– Cykl ADAPTACJE. MOS. Municipal Art Center / curated by Marta Gendera, Gustaw Nawrocki and Bartosz Nowak (Gorzów Wielkopolski, Poland)
2020
– Not/funny pictures. KX Space / сurated by Lizaveta Michalchuk (Brest, Belarus)
– Belarus.Protest.Art. Gallery 59 Rivoli (Paris, France)
– The Square of Change. Perron West (Utrecht, Netherlands)
– Belarusian Sundays in Red and White. Henry Dunant Museum (Heiden, Switzerland)
– FEMINISM IS. Centre of Gender Culture / Bridging feminisms project (Kharkov, Ukraine)
– Wear Zones. KX Space / curated by Lizaveta Michalchuk (Brest, Belarus)
2019 
– Tam gdzie Teraz. VEHA Archive. Galeria Labirynt / curated by Waldemar Tatarczuk (Lublin, Poland)
– Maiden names. MOS. Municipal Art Center / curated by Alina Dzeravianka (Gorzów Wielkopolski, Poland)
2018
– Here and now. Squat space (Minsk, Belarus)
– Triennial of Photography Hamburg. OSTLOOK, Gallery 21 / curated by Jewgeni Roppel (Hamburg, Germany)
– Mater Materia. KX Space / curated by Lizaveta Michalchuk (Brest, Belarus)  
2017
– Hold on. Let go. AFF Gallery / curated by Franca Wohlt (Berlin, Germany)
– Work Hard! Play Hard!Transmission. Palianina-Pcholka (Minsk, Belarus)
– Memory Lands. Museo Della Battaglia, IoDeposito B#S Gallery / curated by Chiara Isadora Artico (Italy, Treviso)
– PRAFOTA. CECH Gallery / curated by Anna Shpakova (Minsk, Belarus)
– One Can Not Be Too Careful. Lock In Gallery / curated by Ania PsH, Raddy Junova and Rodina art group (Brighton, UK)
2016 – To be like I. Gallery of Contemporary art Ў / curated by Zhanna Gladko (Minsk, Belarus)  
2013 – Strukturyzacyja. Gallery of Contemporary art Ў / curated by Natalia Harachaja (Minsk, Belarus) 

THE VEHA ARCHIVE 

— a self-organised initiative that unites different social communities in the study and preservation of vernacular archival photography as a cultural heritage and one of the key elements of the invisible history of Belarus. The VEHA platform is the creation of a horizontal memory institute. 

Members: Lesia Pcholka and Asia Cimafiejeva

online archive ︎︎︎  veha-archive.org

2023
– We’ll Hold a Wedding on Your Graves. Beyond VEHA Photographic Archive. Copenhagen Photo Festival / curated by Vera Zalutskaya (Copenhagen. Danmark)
– LET IT SHINE. Beyond VEHA Photographic Archive. MOS. Municipal Art Center / curated by Vera Zalutskaya (Gorzów Wielkopolski, Poland)
– VEHA archive. Konstepidemin / curated by Denis Romanovski and Mona Wallström (Gothenburg, Sweden)
2019
– Bachelorette Night. FAF Gallery / curated by Marta Przybyło (Warsaw, Poland)
– Dziavočy viečar. KX Space / curated by Lizaveta Michalchuk (Brest, Belarus)

2024
– Flashes of time – Belarusian photography books and zines. Fotofestiwal Lodz (Lodz, Poland)
– Belarusische Kultur unter Druck. SomoS Arts / curated by Laura Worsch (Berlin, Germany)

2022 – Belarusian female artists. Dialog between the generations. Gallery KVOST / curated by Maya Hristova and Jewgeni Roppel (Berlin, Germany)
2021 – Festival SPRAVA. Museum of the Belarusian Folk Art / curated by Maxim Shumilin (Raubichi, Belarus)
2019
– Heritagization. Gallery 54, Project STATUS / curated by Alina Dzeravianka (Sweden, Gothenburg) 
– Tam gdzie Teraz. Galeria Labirynt / curated by Waldemar Tatarczuk (Lublin, Poland)
2018 – Month of Photography in Minsk. The Ў Gallery (Minsk, Belarus)
2017 – Month of Photography in Minsk. Gallery Canteen XYZ / curated by Anna Bundeleva (Minsk, Belarus)  

2024
– Awards for the Michal Anempadystaw Prize. PEN Belarus. VEHA's book "Ludzi Lesu", nominated for best book cover. Designer Jana Galushkina, curator Lesia Pcholka
2022
– Shortlist for the Michal Anempadystaw Prize. PEN Belarus/ VEHA's book "Apošni fotazdymak", nominated for best book cover. Designer Sasha Luchyna, curator Lesia Pcholka
2018
– Shortlist for the RADA Awards. VEHA project "The Best Side" is nominated in the category "Youth Initiative / Cultural Conservation Project". Project coordinator Lesia Pcholka
– III place "Publication of the Year". IMF Award, Month of Photography in Minsk. The VEHA book "The Best Side". Curator Lesia Pcholka
– Shortlist for the Michal Anempadystaw Prize. PEN Belarus. VEHA's book "The Best Side," nominated for best cover. Designer Sasha Luchyna, curator Lesia Pcholka
2017
– II place "Exhibition / photo project of the year" VEHA "The Best Side". IMF Award, Month of Photography in Minsk. Curator Anna Bundeleva, project coordinator Lesia Pcholka