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



email me:
les.pcholka@gmail.com 

 

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

︎︎︎ Founder of the VEHA archive   


Pcholka’s work bridges archival practice, migration narratives, and social transformation, using photography and installations to examine undocumented histories and political trauma. Her projects connect cultural heritage with contemporary migration and displacement, reflecting on identity and resilience in the face of authoritarianism and exile.




SOLO EXHIBITIONS

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)   


BIO

Lesia Pcholka received the basics of academic painting at the Art School in Baryssau, Belarus. In 2017, she graduated from the Minsk Innovation University with a degree in Social Psychology and participated in several international education programs, including: 10 workshops, The Ў Gallery (2016); 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).  


From 2009 to 2013, Lesia Pcholka worked as a photographer and collaborated with independent Belarusian media. 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 2018-2020 she was a member of the Belarusian Association of Photographers. 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. 


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




BOOKS  

2024 – DESCENT INTO THE MARSH. ISBN 978-3-00-081038-1 

2022 – Ludzi Lesu. VEHA Archive. ISBN 978-83-65133-44-1
2021
– Dziavočy viečar. VEHA Archive. ISBN 987-985-7209-75-0
– Apošni fotazdymak. VEHA Archive. ISBN 987-985-7209-76-7
2018 – Najlepšy bok. VEHA Archive. ISBN 978-985-7165-83-4





PUBLICATIONS

2024
– FROM THE FOLDINGS #0. Directors David Liver and Michael Kaethler | A report on Creative Freedom and Freedom of expression. The Other Session project    
– Hjärnstorm magazine #156 | REPRESSIONENS MINNE Lesia Pcholka, translator Katerina Zolotova 
2023 – EIKON art magazine #123. ISBN 978-3-904083-16-4  Photography between Art, Documentation and Activism | Text by Simon Mraz | Photos by Lesia Pcholka and Sofia Mirolyubova

2022 – NO.10 Sputnik Photos Mentoring Programme. ISBN 987-83-956367-6-9 | Curator Adam Pańczuk. Coordination Marzena Michałek-Dąbrowska  

2021 – The Strike Newspaper #5. ISBN 978-83-956367-3-8 | The Archive of Public Protests (APP). Belarussian solidarity protests in Poland 

2020 – pARTisanka #34 | almanac of contemporary Belarusian culture. ISBN 978-985-7209-27-9 




RESIDENCES & SCHOLARSHIPS

2025 – Gaude Polonia. NCK / Arsenal Gallery (Bialystok , Poland) 
2023
– Memory Work. Bundesstiftung Aufarbeitung / CISR e. V. Berlin (Berlin, Germany)
– IASPIS. The International Artists Studio Program (Stockholm, Sweden)
2022
– Q21. MuseumsQuartier (Vienna, Austria)
– FLOW / PRZEPŁYW (Wisła river, Poland)
2021
– ICORN. Gallery Günter Grass (Gdansk, Poland)
– Galeria Arsenal (Bialystok, Poland)
– Brno AIR. House of Arts (Brno, Czech Republic)
2019
– SOUND iD project. Ukrainian Cultural Foundation (Slavska, Ukraine)
– Gaude Polonia. NCK / Fundacja Archeologia Fotografii (Warsaw, Poland) 



SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2025
– Festival Circulation(s). CENTQUATRE-PARIS / curated by Collectif Fetartt (Paris, France)
– DESCENT INTO THE MARSH. alpha nova & galerie futur (Berlin, Germany)
2024 
– Long-distance Relationships. Gallery KVOST / curated by Zofia nierodzińska and Stephan Koal (Berlin, Germany)  
– United Nations. Galeria WY / curated by Joanna Szumacher (Łódź, Poland)  
– The OTHER SESSION. Docks Cantieri Cucchini. During the 60th Venice Biennale / curated by David Liver and Michael Kaethler (Venice, Italy)
– Borders in Zenit. Społem fest. Club Zenit / curated by Katarzyna Rózniak-Szabelska (Bialystok, Poland)
– We’ll Hold a Wedding on Your Graves. Beyond VEHA Photographic Archive. Copenhagen Photo Festival / curated by Vera Zalutskaya (Copenhagen. Danmark)
– FLOW/PRZEPŁYW. Centrum Sztuki Galeria EL / curated by Agnieszka Brzeżańska, Ewa Ciepielewska and Emilia Orzechowska (Elbląg, Poland) 
– 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) 
– LET IT SHINE. Beyond VEHA Photographic Archive. MOS. Municipal Art Center / curated by Vera Zalutskaya (Gorzów Wielkopolski, Poland)
– LIMINARIUM. Performensk at PlatformB. Theaterhaus / curated by Anna Bakinovskaia (Stuttgart, Germany)
– 21. SURVIVAL Art Review ERZAC. Fundacja Art Transparent / curators Michał Bieniek, Anna Kołodziejczyk, Małgorzata Miśniakiewicz, Ewa Pluta, Daniel Brożek (Wroclaw, Poland)
2022  
– BY LAW. Collaboration with artist Uladzimir Hramovich. Museum of Emigration / curated by Maksymilian Bochenek, SUPLEMENT project (Gdynia, Poland) 
– VERSSchmuggel Belarus Deutschland. Galerie intershop / curated by Louise Walleneit (Leipzig, Germany)
– Belarusian female artists. Dialog between the generations. Gallery KVOST / curated by Maya Hristova and Jewgeni Roppel (Berlin, Germany)
– 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)  
– No.10. Alumni of the Sputnik Photos Mentor Program. FAF Gallery / сurated by Jan Brykczyński (Warsaw, Poland)
– The Code of Presence: Belarusian Protest Embroideries and Textile Patterns. University of Michigan Library / сurated by Sasha Razor  (Michigan, United States)
– 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)  
– 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) 
– Practicing Revolution. Sinema Transtopia / curated by Marina Naprushkina and Agnieszka Kilian (Berlin, Germany)
– Freedom, Pain and Hope. KLEISTER / curated by Katja Haustein and Franca Wohlt (Berlin, Germany)  
– Cykl ADAPTACJE. Outdoor Exhibition. MOS. Municipal Art Center / curated by Marta Gendera, Gustaw Nawrocki and Bartosz Nowak (Gorzów Wielkopolski, Poland)
– Echoes. Voices from Belarus II, ECLAT Festival, Karlskaserne Art Center / сurated by Christine Fischer (Ludwigsburg, Germany)  
2020 
– Not/funny pictures. KX Space / сurated by Lizaveta Michalchuk (Brest, Belarus)
– Belarus.Protest.Art. Gallery 59 Rivoli (Paris, France)
– 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) 
– Mater Materia. KX Space / curated by Lizaveta Michalchuk (Brest, Belarus) 
– Triennial of Photography Hamburg. OSTLOOK, Gallery 21 / curated by Jewgeni Roppel (Hamburg, Germany)
2017 
– Hold on. Let go. AFF Gallery / curated by Franca Wohlt (Berlin, Germany)
– Memory Lands. Museo Della Battaglia, IoDeposito B#S Gallery / curated by Chiara Isadora Artico (Italy, Treviso)  
– One Can Not Be Too Careful. Lock In Gallery / curated by Ania PsH, Raddy Junova and Rodina art group (Brighton, UK) 
– PRAFOTA. CECH Gallery / curated by Anna Shpakova (Minsk, Belarus)
– Work Hard! Play Hard!Transmission. Palianina-Pcholka (Minsk, Belarus)
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)     




ART FAIRS

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




LINKS

– KALEKTAR platform. Platform on Belarusian Contemporary Art  

– PlatformB. Place for artists in exile. Germany  

– ANTIWARCOALITION.ART
International platform of cultural workers against the war. Lesia Pcholka's took part in the following exhibitions: 2024 Safety as Collective Practice / Revolutionale Festival #SenseOfSafety (Leipzig, Germany); 2023 Sovereignty Reimagined #sovereignty reimagined (New York, USA); 2023 nicht Unser Krieg #weltkunstzimmer (Dusseldorf, Germany); 2022 When Language Is Lost: Possibilities of Art in the Face of War #zkm kubus (Berlin, Germany); 2022 Coalition / Коаліція / Koalicja / Кааліцыя  #domie (Poznań, Poland); 2022 ZKM One week screening #zkm screening (Berlin, Germany) and others




AWARDS

2024
– I place. Michal Anempadystaw Prize. PEN Belarus. VEHA's book "Ludzi Lesu", nominated for the 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. 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. Michal Anempadystaw Prize. PEN Belarus. VEHA's book "The Best Side," nominated for best cover. Designer Sasha Luchyna, curator Lesia Pcholka
- I place Biz4all for the VEHA "Family Book" project. ODB Brussels (Belgium) in partnership with TNU Network University (Netherlands). Course author 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