Mikhail Mishuk, Landscapes in Emigration, 2023

oil, paper, 38 x 26 cm

In my student days, I really enjoyed painting landscapes. It was my way of distracting myself to linger, take a walk in nature, and then capture both the place and time and the emotions associated with them. And although after graduating from the academy my life and work always involved creative activities, for personal reasons I decided to leave landscapes and have not returned to them since 2010. I did not return to painting until ten years later, in early 2021. Faced with anxiety and a lack of understanding of what to do next, I came to my small homeland, Maryina Gorka, took my things with me and went to draw. It's like playing a computer game: you return to a saved moment that you chose yourself, where you feel comfortable and still understand. It was a kind of art therapy. Then, as with many of us, emigration followed - first to Lithuania, then to Poland. During this period, creativity again helped me a lot. How not to go crazy, to get to know a new space, to feel comfortable. So landscapes became for me not only a statement, not only a renewed practice, which was very close to me, but also my personal support, something that allows me to stand more firmly on my feet and feel the world around me (although it is a world tearing at the seams - it still contains beauty that I want to preserve and share).

2008 - 2014: Belarusian State Academy of Fine Arts [BGAI].
Faculty of Arts Specialization: film technology
2000 - 2008: Gymnasium-College of Arts named after I. O. Ahremchik
Direction: fine arts

2010 - present: Freelance artist, stage designer
Art projects, including painting and street art;
advertising projects;
music videos;
photo shoots;
short films and other video productions.

2014 - 2020: Gallery of contemporary art "Ў"
Development of a concept for the design of the gallery space;
installation of exhibitions.

2012 - 2016: Film Studio of Belarus "Belarusfilm" (work after graduation).
Artist at the animation film studio;
production designer;
artist's assistant on film projects.

Group exhibitions:
Fotofestiwal 15.06.2023—25.06.2023: International Photography Festival in Lodz. Series of drawings '13 Days that Took Me Back in Time'.
NOTHILFE-FONDS FÜR KULTURSCHAFFENDE AUS BELARUS UND RUSSLAND 2022. / NOHILFE FUND FOR CULTURAL PROFESSIONALS FROM BELARUS AND RUSSIA 2022. Recipient of the special program by the Goethe Institute, 'Nothilfestipendien,' for artists from Belarus and Russia.
Exhibition of repressed Belarusian artists 'Greetings from Belarus' in Warsaw. Museum of Free Belarus, 17.03.2023-02.04.2023. Series of anti-war drawings 'No Words'.
Art Fair ArtVilnius'21: Embassy of Culture at Art Fair ArtVilnius'21, October 15 -17, 2021. Sketches from Belarusian jail in Zhodino (IVS Zhodino).
Bar "Ў". Personal exhibition. Mihas Mishuk - "Clara & Rosa." March 5 - 18, 2016.
Gallery of contemporary art "Ў". Collective exhibition "Structuration. Project "Fragments". April 4 - 28, 2013.