Text: Curatorial group of the exhibition "Every Day. Art, Solidarity, Resistance"

In her work “Amusing Pictures,” Mitrichenko describes her experience in Belarus. This is a picture diary, a report on one day in the life of the artist. But at the same time it is also a record of the emotions felt when experiencing from a distance events that cannot be influenced.

At first glance, Vika Mitrichenko’s works are very individual, full of personal mythology and family stories. But on closer inspection you can see that these are deep, universal issues. By talking about complex issues and avoiding generalizations, Vika allows the viewer to become part of the story. According to the artist, “Cultural heritage, the history of art, big social turbulences, global political and cultural shifts, they are just patchworks sewed together from a huge number of small peculiar stories, little insignificant events, family tales and personal anecdotes.”* In sewing this blanket out of visual quotes

from contemporary and classical works, and fastening them with notes from her diaries, the artist turns reflections about censorship in art, professional activity and political crises into fascinating comics.

The use of ceramic tiles emphasizes the connection between the private and the political, the personal and the social. The tile simultaneously refers to both the home and to public spaces.

Through helplessness, but at the same time an understanding of the irreversibility of retribution against executioners and rapists, at the end it suddenly becomes clear that “Wrapped in carpets, we’ll be victorious.”** And this gives hope.

* Vika Mitrichenko. From the artist’s statement. — vikamitrichenko.com/cv

** Vika Mitrichenko. From the work “Amusing Pictures.” 2021