Ala Savashevich
Born in 1989 in Stolin, the artist Ala Savashevich, graduated from the Belarusian State Academy of Fine Arts (Minsk, 2010-2014) and the Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Fine Arts (Wrocław, 2014-2017). In 2021, she completed postgraduate studies at the Jan Matejko Academy of Fine Arts in Krakow. She works in installation, photography, video, and performance art. Savashevich has participated in exhibitions in Belarus, Poland, Ukraine, Germany, and Georgia, amongst others. She currently lives and works in Wrocław, Poland.
In her artistic practice, Ala Savashevich engages in a critical dialogue with the collective memory of the Soviet past. Her work – focused on textiles, clothing, and performance – explores the complex relationships between material and ideology, the body and power, touch and memory. The artist pays special attention to monuments and the concept of “monumentality” as tools of political influence. She analyses their role in the Soviet era, their transformation in the post-Soviet context, and the transformation of their form and meaning in contemporary space.
Rite of Spring
Single-channel Video, Color, Sound, 3min 25sec, 2020
Rite of Spring refers to the famous ballet by Igor Stravinsky, choreographed by Vaslav Nijinsky, first performed by the Ballets Russes in 1913. Inspired by pre-Christian rituals, the ballet tells the story of a virgin sacrifice, whose dance was to awaken the sleeping Earth and set nature in a cycle of rebirth. The artist, dressed in a handmade felt uniform, recreates the dance of death of the victim, alluding to the original choreography.
The premiere of the recording took place on May 9, 2020 - during the COVID-19 pandemic - as a reaction to the celebration of Victory Day in Belarus. On that day, authorities organized a parade in Minsk, ignoring the threat of the epidemic. The celebration became a symbol of the political sacrifice of individuals - mainly the older generation - for the propaganda of the regime.
In Rite of Spring, Savashevich introduces a gesture of resistance to this collective submission. By breaking one body out of line, she reveals its fragility, its inadequacy, and its potential for change.
Ghost
Felt, Steel, 491 × 126 × 181 cm, 2017
In the work Ghost, the artist returns to her hometown of Stolin, focusing on the monument of Lenin, directing the viewer's gaze not to the figure of the leader, but to his coat – a secondary, yet symbolically charged element. By removing the body, leaving only its textile form, Savashevich exposes the void of ideology and the durability of its material remnants. The spirit does not disappear – it materializes in the form of clothing, which becomes a carrier of history, symbolic violence, and collective memory.
Through the use of soft, corporeal materials, the artist challenges the notion of permanence and weight associated with the monument. “Monumentality” is dismantled here – it becomes fragile, susceptible to transformation and touch.
