Sasha Velichko

In Belarus, a repressive dictatorship suppresses freedom of expression. State-controlled media conceals the growing number of political prisoners, disappearances, and the failure of the law and constitution to protect individual rights.

Sasha Velichko explores everyday digital life through the relationship between people and media channels. In a society saturated with distractions, it has become increasingly common to look away from images that cause discomfort.

The work consists of two parts. The first presents absurd, terrifying stories of detentions in Belarus. Based on research, the artist creates staged photographs inspired by these cases. The second part uses news headlines published on the exact dates of the arrests. A neural network generates images from these headlines, many of which are irrelevant, strange, or absurd. For each case, Velichko wrote twelve headlines from the day of the arrest to show how, in moments of crisis, propaganda produces visual and informational noise.

The project demonstrates how media agendas redirect attention away from urgent issues and examines the tendency to avoid painful realities by turning to superficial entertainment content.