FOTOFESTIWAL GRANT 2026 awarded
Sasha Velichko, a Belarusian artist living and working in Poland, has won the FOTOFESTIWAL GRANT 2026.
The project Called to the Carpet concerns the biopolitical control exercised over female political prisoners in Belarus. Women played a key role in the 2020 protests, creating chains of solidarity and mutual support. Today, they experience psychological, physical, and sexual violence. The author has prepared a series of portraits of female prisoners printed on a carpet and photographs. This is the result of collaboration with the Politvyazynka and Pink Scarves initiatives.
Sasha Velichko (born 1993, Belarus) is a research-based artist working at the intersection of photography, archiving, installation, and new media. Her practice focuses on propaganda, post-truth, manipulation, and trauma. Following political persecution in Belarus, she now lives in exile in Warsaw. She holds a master’s degree in radiophysics. She is represented by Jednostka Gallery. She has presented her projects in France, Germany, Portugal, the Netherlands, Spain, Singapore, and Japan.
FOTOFESTIWAL GRANT is a program supporting the production of new works for artists from Poland and/or living and working in Poland.
Fotofestiwal Łódź created it together with Kamienica Hilarego Majewskiego. It is there that, from June 19 to July 12, 2026, you will be able to see Sasha Velichko’s exhibition.
