On the second anniversary of the rigged Belarusian elections, the exhibition “White-red-white” opened in Warsaw. The exhibition is the aftermath of a competition initiated by the National Cultural Centre in cooperation with the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to create a poster that refers to the unprecedented mobilisation of Belarusian society in 2020 – 2022 for democratic, free changes and commemorates its heroes.

Two years ago, Aleksandr Lukashenko rigged the elections and destroyed freedom and democracy in Belarus. This act of oppression sparked a natural grass-roots freedom movement in Belarusian society. The competition is to remind the public space of what happened 2 years ago in Belarus. “There is no consent for the Belarusian regime, just as there is no consent for the Russian aggression in Ukraine”, said Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Culture and National Heritage, Prof. Piotr Gliński during the opening of the ‘White-red-white’ exhibition.

According to the official election results, Belarusian President Aleksandr Lukashenko received more than 80% of the vote in 2020. At the time, hundreds of pieces of evidence were presented on social media showing that the election had been rigged. The Belarusian opposition did not recognise the result of the vote and a wave of protests swept through the country. The authorities suppressed them by force. Six people were then killed. According to estimates by the Belarusian opposition, around 50 000 were taken into custody and around 150 000 left the country.

The competition received 243 works from many countries, including non-European entries. The jury awarded three prizes and 14 honourable distinctions. First place was won by Kamil Skrzypiec for his work ‘Belarus 2020-2022’, second place was received by Piotr Depta-Kleśta for his poster ‘B for freedom’ and third place by Evgenia Muzheva for her work ‘We are not meat’.

Adrian Andrzejewski