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Rufina Bazlova: Embroidered chronicles of resistance in Belarus

(March 10, 2022) Rufina Bazlova is a Belarusian embroidery artist, currently based in the Czech republic. Our Photo Essay this month includes highlights from her recent project, VYZHYVANKA, which began in August 2020, and has been ongoing with new works consistently appearing on Bazlova’s Instagram. 

She uses the visual language of Belarusian traditional embroidery, called vyshyvanka, to illustrate the resistance of Belarusian citizens in the aftermath of the widely discredited election of Alexander Lukashenko in August 2020 Changing the “S” in vyshyvanka to a “Z” Rufina Bazlova transforms it into a version of the Belarusian verb, ‘to survive’. In the past week, of course, that “Z” has come to represent Volodymyr Zelenskyy, besieged president of Ukraine, now under attack by Russia, with support from Belarus.

Rufina Bazlova contextualizes her work by telling us, “Historically, Belarusian women could neither read nor write, and embroidery and weaving were almost the only way to depict the surrounding life. This is how special geometric patterns arose that conceal many meanings and symbolism. For example, red symbolizes blood or life, and white freedom and purity. We can say that Belarusian ornaments are a kind of code of our national history, written by women, and which can be read as a text or a message.”

Physical collections of the work have also been displayed internationally. 

In making her work, Bazlova makes vector drawings of designs before embroidering.  A catalogue of the series, with accompanying testimony from Belarusian political prisoners and citizens, can be found at Bazlova’s website, which depicts her gallery show The History of Belerusian Vyzhyvanka – Embroidered chronicles of resistance in Belarus.  Scroll down to see depictions of her embroidery featured on her website. The captions are the ones used in the gallery exhibit.

Editor’s Note: The nation of Belarus is closely involved in the current Ukraine/Russia war. It has been the site for two (unsuccessful) rounds of peace talks between Russia and Ukraine, and is the subject of Western sanctions because of the repressive and criminal behaviour of its president, Alexander Lukashenko. After these events, Lukashenko’s position has weakened greatly, because of the illegal nature of his government, and a massive amount of ‘unsustainable foreign public debt’  and he has become increasingly dependent on Putin for support. Now, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya,  Belarusian human rights activist and politician who ran in the 2020 Belarusian presidential election,has declared that Putin has taken control of Belarus’ government, and is using its military in the war against Ukraine. While the events depicted below happened in 2020, the conflict continues.

Prometheus of Belarusian Revolution 

On August 10, 2020, during the second night of the protests, the Belarusian police killed peaceful protester Aliaksandr Taraikousky. According to the authorities, Taraikousky died from the explosion of his own an unknown device, which he was about to throw at the riot police. Released later, footage from surveillance cameras shows that he died from the two gunshots. 

Svetlana is my President

On May 29, 2020, the famous blogger and presidential candidate Siarhei Tsikhanousky was arrested. His wife, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya, announced her intention to run in his place. After joining efforts with Maryia Kalesnikava and Veranika Tsapkala, Tsikhanouskaya registered as the presidential candidate. She presented herself to the public as a transitional figure. Her platform, which consisted of two positions – the release of all political prisoners and holding a new fair election—mobilized and united the entire country. After numerous reports of election fraud, official numbers stated that 82% of the electorate voted for Lukashenko. Still, the majority of people believe that Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya won by a wide margin, but the real numbers may never be known since the ballots in some polling stations were destroyed. On August 10, after an unexpected meeting with officials from the security forces, Sviatlana Tsikhanouskaya fled the country for Lithuania. She now lives and works in exile in Vilnius as the Belarusian opposition leader.

Female solidarity

On August 12, 2020, Belarusian women spontaneously took to the streets in large numbers calling for an end to state violence, forming solidarity chains, and gathering across the country. Self-organizing in Telegram chats, they chose to dress in white, the traditional color of women’s suffrage. Hence, the “Women in White” movement was born. From August to October 2020, Belarusian women continued to participate in weekly Saturday marches, clashing with the police and breaking through police lines. All in all, there were four Saturday marches: the Women’s Grand March for Freedom on August 29; The Loudest March on September 5; Women March for Women on September 12; The March of Sparkles on September 19, which resulted in 400 detentions; and the Démarche against Political Repressions that took place on October 10. With the escalation of police violence against women, these massive marches subsided, while smaller decentralized forms of protest persisted.

Luka and his retinue

Cockroach: The cockroach metaphor was first used during Siarhei Tsikhanousky’s election campaign. His motto “stop the cockroach” gained popularity, and the word itself gradually came to have an automatic association with the Belarusian dictator. The metaphor of a cockroach as a mustachioed tyrant goes back to the work of Russian children’s author Kornei Chukovsky, namely his fairy tale poem The Monster Cockroach [Tarakanishche] (1921). In this poem, an insect assumes power over humankind by bullying them, possibly as a reference to the figure of Joseph Stalin (1878–1953). The poem became popular in the Belarusian protests. Some people went out to the street with slippers in their hands to suggest smashing the cockroach. The events of summer 2020 are sometimes referred to as the Slipper Revolution, but the name did not stick.
 

Chains of Solidarity 

A number of Belarusian doctors and medical workers lost their jobs after expressing their citizenship, supporting protests against the results of the presidential elections, condemning violence against protesters, and also criticizing the actions of the authorities in connection with the pandemic. At a time when the country lacks qualified specialists, the repression against doctors continues.

Rufina Bazlova

Belarusian embroidery artist, Rufina Bazlova currently based in the Czech republic.