PČOŁKA ___________ PCZOŁKA 


 

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email :

les.pcholka@gmail.com 


BY  .   LESIA PČOŁKA
EN  .   LESIA PCHOLKA
PL  .   LESIA PCZOŁKA


 


Lesia Pcholka is a visual artist born in Belarus,
currently lives and works in Berlin/DE  

Founder and Project Curator of the VEHA archive    



Pcholka’s practice brings together archival methods, collective memoriesy, and historical continuities to show explore how the past shapes contemporary life in Belarus and beyond. Through photography, video, and installation, she explores the tension between official narratives and undocumented histories, focusing on voices often silenced. Her work situates Belarus within a broader comparative frame, tracing parallels with other authoritarian contexts while also probing spaces of resistance. Exile sharpens her attention to displacement, belonging, and fragile memory, while gender perspectives inform her sensitivity to embodied experience and power. By mobilizing community archives and approaches in experimental storytelling, Pcholka creates layered narratives that move between personal and political, private and collective — reimagining how histories can be remembered and resisted.




SOLO EXHIBITIONS


2025 – Heavier than Air. MOS. Curated by Zofia nierodzińska / Gorzów Wielkopolski, PL
2024 – Great Stone. Hoast artist-run space. Curated by Ekaterina Shapiro-Obermair and Wolfgang Obermair / Vienna, AT
2022 – Weakness Street. Günter Grass Gallery. Curated by Anna Łazar / Gdańsk, PL  
2021 – OPA #12. Curated by Sylwester Galuschka / Kolonia Artystów. Gdansk, PL
2016 – Visual Diary. National Centre of Contemporary Arts / Minsk, BY   

2015 – Seven Dreams L / Pracovna & Laskafe. Prague, CZ


BIO


Lesia Pcholka graduated from the Minsk Innovation University (2017) with a degree in Social Psychology and participated in several international education programs, including: Biz4all, TNU Network University and ODB Brussels (2016 - 2017); ArtPlatform, European Cultural Foundation (2018 - 2019); MATCH, Adam Mickiewicz Institute (2019); Creative Enterprise, Nesta (2018); Sputnik Photos Mentoring Programme (2020); The East-European School of Political Studies (2020 - 2021); My Family's Heritage: How to Understand and Preserve It. European Humanities University (2025).  

Photographic background : From 2009 to 2013, Lesia Pcholka worked as a photographer and collaborated with independent Belarusian media. In 2018-2020 she was a member of the Belarusian Association of Photographers. Pcholka's photographs have been published in various media outlets, including the BBC, MOMA, Magnum, EIKON, BLOK, Magazynie RTV, The Calvert Journal, GUP Magazine 

Research background : In 2017, she founded VEHA Archive, a platform dedicated to the research and preservation of vernacular archival photography, recognising it as a key element of Belarusian visual history and cultural heritage. In 2020-2021 she taught the course "Visual History of Everyday Life" at the European College of Liberal Arts in Belarus. In 2021-2024 she was a mentor in the Social Camp educational project. Pcholka's has lectured at institutions such as the Archeology of Photography Foundation, European Humanities University, MEMORIAL Deutschland e.V., CISR e. V. Berlin.   
 

Lesia Pcholka's works are part of the collections of the IoDeposito Gallery (Italy), Günter Grass Gallery (Poland), Mochnarte Foundation (Poland) and private collections in Belarus and Germany.  




AWARDS


2025 – Nomination. Ales Adamovich Award. PEN Belarus. Book “DESCENT INTO THE MARSH”  
2024 – Award. Michal Anempadystaw Prize. PEN Belarus. VEHA's book "Ludzi Lesu" 
2022 – Nomination. Michal Anempadystaw Prize. PEN Belarus. VEHA's book "Apošni fotazdymak"
2018
– III place "Publication of the Year". IMF Award, Month of Photography in Minsk. VEHA's "The Best Side"
– Nomination. Michal Anempadystaw Prize. PEN Belarus. VEHA's book "The Best Side"
2017
– Award. PRAFOTA. ART category. CECH Gallery, Belarus 

– II place "Exhibition / photo project of the year". IMF Award, Month of Photography in Minsk. VEHA's project "The Best Side" 






PUBLICATIONS


– FROM THE FOLDINGS #0 is a collection of texts on the state of artistic freedom in non-democratic countries, 2024 

– Hjärnstorm magazine #156. REPRESSIONENS MINNE: EN ARKIVERAD BELARUSISK VARDAG, 2024

– URBAN MEMORY SCAPES. The memory of repression in everyday life documents. CISR e.V. Berlin platform, 2023

– Book NO.10. Sputnik Photos, 2022  

– VEHA archive : People of the Forest (Ludzi Lesu), ISBN 978-83-65133-44-1. 2022

– Strike Newspaper. A-P-P #5, Archiwum Protestow Publicznych, 2021 

– VEHA archive : Girls’ Night and the Last Photo (Dziavočy viečar & Apošni fotazdymak), ISBN 987-985-7209-75-0, ISBN 987-985-7209-76-7. 2021

– pARTisanka magazine #34, ISBN 978-985-7209-27-9. 2020 
– VEHA archive : The Best Side (Najlepšy bok), ISBN 978-985-7165-83-4. 2018




RESIDENCES / SCHOLARSHIPS


2025
– Gaude Polonia, NCK. Arsenal Gallery / Bialystok, PL 
2024
– Weltoffenes Berlin, Fellowship-Programm / ZUSA. Berlin, DE
2023
– Memory Work. Bundesstiftung Aufarbeitung / CISR e. V. Berlin. Berlin, , DE
– IASPIS. The International Artists Studio Program / Stockholm, SE 
2022
– FLOW / PRZEPŁYW. Wisła river, PL
– Q21. MuseumsQuartier / Vienna, AT
2021
– ICORN. Gallery Günter Grass / Gdansk, PL
– Brno AIR. House of Arts / Brno, CZ
– Galeria Arsenal. Bialystok, PL
2019
– SOUND iD project. Ukrainian Cultural Foundation / Slavska, UA
– Gaude Polonia, NCK. Fundacja Archeologia Fotografii / Warsaw, PL




FESTIVALS / BIENNALES


2025
– I am Pfeilstorch. Festiwal SAMASIEJ. Curated by Uladzimir Hramovich / Bialystok University of Technology. Bialystok, PL 
– CANCAN BIENNALE #1. Curated by Aline Montaigne / Espace Saint-Nicolas. Coutances, FR  
– Festival Circulation(s). Curated by Collectif Fetartt / CENTQUATRE-PARIS. Paris, FR
2024
– The OTHER SESSION. During the 60th Venice Biennale. Curated by David Liver and Michael Kaethler / Docks Cantieri Cucchini. Venice, IT
– Borders in Zenit. Społem fest. Curated by Katarzyna Rózniak-Szabelska / Club Zenit. Bialystok, PL
– Copenhagen Photo Festival. We’ll Hold a Wedding on Your Graves. Beyond VEHA Photographic Archive. Curated by Vera Zalutskaya / Copenhagen. DK 
2023
– LIMINARIUM. Performensk at PlatformB. Curated by Anna Bakinovskaia / Theaterhaus. Stuttgart, DE
– 21. SURVIVAL Art Review ERZAC. Fundacja Art Transparent. Curators Michał Bieniek, Anna Kołodziejczyk, Małgorzata Miśniakiewicz, Ewa Pluta, Daniel Brożek / Wroclaw, PL
2022
– Echoes. Voices from Belarus III, ECLAT Hybrid Festival. Curated by Christine Fischer / Hospitalhof church. Stuttgart, DE
2021 
– Echoes. Voices from Belarus. Festival ECLAT. Stuttgart, DE
2018   
– Triennial of Photography Hamburg. Curated by Jewgeni Roppel / OSTLOOK, Gallery 21. Hamburg, DE
2017
– PRAFOTA. Curated by Anna Shpakova / CECH Gallery. Minsk, BY
– Work Hard! Play Hard!Transmission. Palianina-Pcholka / Minsk, BY   




GROUP EXHIBITIONS


2025
– Headlong. The beaver tumbled down the slope / Arsenal Gallery. Bialystok, PL 
– DESCENT INTO THE MARSH. / alpha nova & galerie futur. Berlin, DE
– BY LAW. XY 2025 : Berlin in Olomouc. Curated by Radka Částková, Hana Kurková, Anna Sýsová / Basement Studio. Olomouc, CZ
2024 
– Long-distance Relationships. Curated by Zofia nierodzińska and Stephan Koal / Gallery KVOST. Berlin, DE
– United Nations. Curated by Joanna Szumacher / Galeria WY. Łódź, PL
– FLOW/PRZEPŁYW. Curated by Agnieszka Brzeżańska, Ewa Ciepielewska and Emilia Orzechowska / Centrum Sztuki Galeria EL. Elbląg, PL
– Sometimes i hold onto the air. Curated by Katharina von Hagenow, Uladzimir Hramovich and Paulina Olszewska / Galerie im Körnerpark.  Berlin, DE
2023
– On the New. Hoast artist-run space at Belvedere 21. Curated by Ekaterina Shapiro-Obermair and Wolfgang Obermair / Belvedere 21. Museum of Contemporary Art. Vienna, AT 
– LET IT SHINE. Beyond VEHA Photographic Archive. Curated by Vera Zalutskaya / MOS. Municipal Art Center. Gorzów Wielkopolski, PL 
2022   
– BY LAW. Curated by Maksymilian Bochenek, SUPLEMENT project / Museum of Emigration. Gdynia, PL
– VERSSchmuggel Belarus Deutschland. Curated by Louise Walleneit / Galerie intershop. Leipzig, DE 
– Belarusian female artists. Dialog between the generations. Curated by Maya Hristova and Jewgeni Roppel / Gallery KVOST. Berlin, DE 
– 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, DE
– The Code of Presence: Belarusian Protest Embroideries and Textile Patterns. Curated by Sasha Razor / University of Michigan Library. Michigan, USA 
2021 
– Belarus – Screams of the Silenced / The Grey Space in the Middle. Den Haag, NL
– War, Revolution and Protest in the Female Lens. Curated by Iwona Demko and Renata Kopyto / Dom Norymberski. Krakow, PL
– Every Day. Art. Solidarity. Resistance. Curated by Aleksei Borisionok, Andrei Dureika, Marina Naprushkina, Sergey Shabohin, Antonina Stebur and Maxim Tyminko / Gallery Mystetskyi Arsenal. Kyiv, UA
– Białoruś: Marsz Wolności. Curated by Joanna Kinowska / Kordegarda Gallery. Warsaw, PL
– Practicing Revolution. Curated by Marina Naprushkina, Agnieszka Kilian / Sinema Transtopia. Berlin, DE
– Freedom, Pain and Hope. Curated by Katja Haustein and Franca Wohlt / KLEISTER. Berlin, DE
2020  
– Not/funny pictures. Curated by Lizaveta Michalchuk / KX Space. Brest, BY
– Belarus. Protest. Art. / Gallery 59 Rivoli. Paris, FR
– Belarus: The Square of Change / Perron West. Utrecht, NL
– Belarusian Sundays in Red and White / Henry Dunant Museum. Heiden, SE
– Wear Zones. Curated by Lizaveta Michalchuk / KX Space. Brest, BY
2019 – Maiden names. Сurated by Alina Dzeravianka / Miejski Ośrodek Sztuki. Gorzow Wielkopolski. PL
2018
– Mater Materia. Curated by Lizaveta Michalchuk / KX Space. Brest, BY 
2017 
– Hold on. Let go. Curated by Franca Wohlt / AFF Gallery. Berlin, DE
– Memory Lands. Curated by Chiara Isadora Artico / Museum of the Battle. IoDeposito B#S Gallery. Treviso, IT   
– One Can Not Be Too Careful. Curated by Ania PsH, Raddy Junova, Rodina art group / Lock In Gallery. Brighton, UK   

2016
– To be like I. Curated by Zhanna Gladko / Gallery of Contemporary art Ў. Minsk, BY   
2013
– Structuring. Curated by Natalia Harachaja / Gallery of Contemporary art Ў. Minsk, BY 

– Structuring: fragments. Curated by Natalia Harachaja / Gallery of Contemporary art Ў. Minsk, BY 




ART FAIRS


2024 – BAAM#08, Berlin Artists Art Market / Berlin, DE
2022 – Stockholm Independent Art Fair, KX Space / Stockholm, SE
2021, 2020 – Fundacja Humanosh. Piękna Gallery / onebid.pl
2020 – VLADEY, online auction vladey.net 




LINKS


– KALEKTAR platform. Platform on Belarusian Contemporary Art  

– PlatformB. Place for artists in exile. Germany  

– ANTIWARCOALITION.ART international platform for cultural workers against the war