Sasha Velichko | Called to the Carpet

Sasha Velichko has a story to tell. In all personal stories, especially in the complex geopolitically structured world we live in today, artists can put forward profoundly engaged matters. Starting from her own experience, as a persecuted political figure, Sasha empathises with the lives of women prisoners in her home country Belarus, by displaying collective and individual trauma in her multidisciplinary work. 

Called to the Carpet includes imperfect handmade carpets figuring the ID portraits of imprisoned women: the carpet, symbol of the home and domesticity, usually a welcoming and comforting element, becomes the stage and the witness of political persecution.

Images of everyday objects that the women share in prison reveal methodical physical and psychological abuse. We are confronted with a minimalistic approach, a few images, some text, that leaves us with a sense of discomfort and a necessary reflection on systems of control and their subtle gestures. 

Called to the Carpet at Kamienica reads as an immersive dialogue between images, space, and the viewer, challenging symbols of domesticity and everyday life within a manipulated and repressed political environment. 

This work is the result of collaboration with the Politvyazynka and Pink Scarves.

Exhibition curator: Arianna Rinaldo

Exhibition is part of the Fotofestiwal Grant 2026 in collaboration with Hilary Majewski Tenement House.

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» GET TO KNOW THE ARTIST «

Born in 1993 in Slonim, Belarus, Sasha Velichko is a multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans photography, installation and new media. Her work investigates propaganda, post-truth, manipulations, collective and individual trauma.

After being politically persecuted in Belarus (2020) and forced to flee in 2021, she relocated to Warsaw, Poland.

Sasha’s projects have been exhibited internationally, she is a recipient of many awards, including the Grand Jury Prize at Les Boutographies, the Konrad Pustoła Award, which she was awarded as the first ever Belarusian, and the Photo Essay Award at SEEEU in Tokyo. City of Warsaw and National Culture Center (Gaude Polonia) scholarship holder. Her works have been published in several magazines including Magnum Flow, The Steidz, Fisheye.