Sergey Shabohin, New Barrier, 2022

acrylic, canvas, 40 × 80 cm

In 2022, Poland completed the construction of a 180-kilometer-long fence along the border with Belarus. The height of the fence is 5.5 meters. The Polish Parliament allocated more than $400 million for the construction. The migration crisis on the Belarusian border arose in the spring of 2021 due to an influx of illegal immigrants, mainly from Iraq and Syria, to a lesser extent from Afghanistan and African countries (according to statistics from the Border Guard in Poland), who intended to reach EU countries from Belarus via Lithuania, Latvia and Poland. European authorities accuse the Belarusian government of organizing the influx of illegal migrants, calling it, "hybrid aggression," and the governments of Poland and Lithuania see it as, "the hand of Moscow." This hybrid war has led to violations, as well as numerous reports of migrant deaths. Human Rights Watch accused the Belarusian authorities of causing the current situation, noted violations of migrants' rights on both sides of the Belarusian-Polish border: the Belarusian border guards of subjecting migrants to violence, inhumane and degrading treatment, and even torture. The Poles illegally and forcibly pushed the migrants into Belarusian territory. According to HRW, both sides, prevented regular humanitarian access to migrants at the border.

The canvas, made in grisaille technique, depicts a section of the new fence on the Polish-Belarusian border, the canvas repeatedly torn. The painting became part of a series on the migrant experience, "Canvas Torn with a Pole's Card."

BIOGRAM:
Sergey Shabohin is an artist, independent curator, art writer, archivist and researcher of Belarusian culture, co-founder and editor-in-chief of the Kalektar research platform for contemporary Belarusian art, founder and editor-in-chief of Art Aktivist, a portal on activism and contemporary Belarusian art.

Owner of the Grey Mandorla Studio space in Poznań. Curator and co-curator of several exhibitions, programs and competitions. Belarusian art activist, author of lectures, creator of dozens of cultural initiatives, co-founder of kultprotest.me, initiator of a program aimed at creating a Museum of Contemporary Art in Belarus. The artist is also engaged in interdisciplinary practices: he directs films and performances, collaborates with musicians and theater audiences, and performs as a DJ.

Born in Novopolack (Belarus). Lives and works in Poznań and Berlin.