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, a horizontal organization focused on the study and preservation of archival photography from Belarus
Pcholka’s work bridges archival practice and social transformation, using photography, video, and installations to examine undocumented histories. She is particularly interested in collective memory, especially how official historical narratives interact with undocumented histories of the pre-Soviet past and everyday life. Her work reflects on contemporary social issues and navigates political trauma, often using community archives to uncover layered stories in the public and private consciousness.
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
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2025 – Cięższe od powietrza [Heavier than Air]. MOS. Municipal Art Center / curated by Zofia nierodzińska. Gorzów Wielkopolski, Poland
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
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 and artwork have been published in various media outlets, including the BBC, post MOMA, Magnum, EIKON #123, BLOK, Magazynie RTV, The Calvert Journal, NO.10 Sputnik Photos, GUP Magazine, EASTTOPICS, The Strike Newspaper #5, SZUM, KubaParis, Contemporary Art Library, pARTisanka #34; FROM THE FOLDINGS #0; Hjärnstorm magazine #156.
RESIDENCES & SCHOLARSHIPS
2025 – Gaude Polonia. NCK / Arsenal Gallery (Bialystok , Poland)
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); 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 and artwork have been published in various media outlets, including the BBC, post MOMA, Magnum, EIKON #123, BLOK, Magazynie RTV, The Calvert Journal, NO.10 Sputnik Photos, GUP Magazine, EASTTOPICS, The Strike Newspaper #5, SZUM, KubaParis, Contemporary Art Library, pARTisanka #34; FROM THE FOLDINGS #0; Hjärnstorm magazine #156.
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, 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.
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
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
2016 – To be like I. Gallery of Contemporary art Ў / curated by Zhanna Gladko (Minsk, Belarus)
ART FAIRS
2024 – BAAM#08 / Berlin Artists Art Market (Berlin, Germany)
AWARDS
2024
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)
– Are you here with us? #SenseOfSafety Arsenal Gallery / curated by Anti-War Coalition (Bialystok, Poland)
– 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 and Paulina Olszewska (Berlin, Germany)
– Safety as Collective Practice. Revolutionale Festival #SenseOfSafety / curated by Anti-War Coalition (Leipzig, 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)
– Sovereignty Reimagined #sovereignty reimagined Maenad Collective / curated by Anti-War Coalition (New York, USA)
– 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)
– Nicht Unser Krieg #weltkunstzimmer Weltkunstzimmer / curated by Anti-War Coalition (Dusseldorf, Germany)
2022
– BY LAW. 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)
– Dziavočy viečar. VEHA Archive. KX Space / curated by Lizaveta Michalchuk (Brest, Belarus)
– Wieczór panieński [Dziavochi Vechar] VEHA Archive. FAF Gallery / curated by Marta Przybyło (Warsaw, 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)
– Month of Photography in Minsk. VEHA Archive. The Ў Gallery (Minsk, Belarus)
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)
– Month of Photography in Minsk. VEHA Archive. Gallery Canteen XYZ (Minsk, Belarus)
– 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
AWARDS