Kseniya ‘Xisha’ Angelova is a Belarusian artist. Since 2021, she has pursued the project ‘Belarusian Martyrology.’ Initially it was Xisha’s attempt to take the baton from the artist who was brutally murdered in his courtyard in Minsk. His portrait was the first she painted. Then the list began to grow. She is an icon painter. Since she has been painting, Xisha thinks of a deep attention that should not end. Paying attention to prisoners is not only a desire to support the prisoners and their families, but also to pay attention to the mountainous repression in the centre of Europe. If she remains silent, she will be betraying something important to her and to those behind bars. 

Xisha only has time to paint portraits, and she doesn’t feel it is an artistic sacrifice. She can’t accept conformism in art, it’s like an untruth, it closes her off to the perception of such art, which seeks its own benefits or adapts itself. 

Participant in: August 2024 Fellowship: The Arts as a Tool for Peacebuilding