Image from Rufina Bazlova’s series entitled The History of Belarusian Vyzhyvanka, which uses the traditional folk embroidery medium to depict the ongoing peaceful protests in Belarus, the artist’s home country. Each tableau corresponds to an actual event during the Summer–Winter of 2020. Vyzhyvanka is a pun combining two Belarusian words, “embroidery” and “survival.” Vyshyvanka means “embroidered shirt.” Vyzhyvats' means “to survive.” 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. 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.
