Authors

Andrei Zavadski¹;  ¹ TU Dortmund University, Germany

Discussion

This contribution will analyze the mnemonic counterpublic emerging around the Belarusian artist Rufina Bazlova’s social art project “Framed in Belarus.” I developed the concept of “mnemonic counterpublics” as part of my doctoral dissertation (Zavadski 2020), theorizing them as “groups whose members feel excluded with regard to particular memories and, in their resolve to overcome that exclusion, challenge not only the collective remembrance framework, but also the power structure of society and its political status quo” (Zavadski 2023: 183). Dedicated to political prisoners in Belarus (of whom there are now more than 3.000), “Framed in Belarus” mobilizes volunteers to tell their stories in embroidered portraits. People across the world sign up for participation, and Bazlova sends out a pattern representing a political prisoner to each volunteer, who then cross-stitches it at home. Once the embroidery is completed, it is sent back to the artist, kept in her archive, and periodically exhibited as part of this transnational effort of solidarity with Belarusians. Moreover, Bazlova organizes cross-stitching workshops. Using embroidery as a tool of dialogue (as well as resistance), these workshops bring together people who spend an afternoon with each other, cross-stitch depictions of political prisoners, and discuss political events in Belarus and beyond. Rufina Bazlova’s art has been investigated before (Gaufman 2021; Razor 2022; Weller 2022, among others). But the extant research largely focuses on the symbolic meaning of her output. No ethnographic approach to her work, especially the “Framed in Belarus” project and especially in relation to its participants, has been applied. Observations during Bazlova’s workshops and interviews with some long-distance participants in the project allow me to argue that “Framed in Belarus” gives rise to a transnational mnemonic counterpublic. The paper will present details of this analysis, focusing on the counterpublic’s transnational character and its affordances.