Ihar Hancharuk
Ihar Hancharuk (1986, Belarus) studied languages in Belarus, Poland, and Germany, which later influenced his artistic practice, and didn’t limit him to only one cultural context. Different approaches to education in Belarus and Europe strongly pushed him for further personal development. He served in mandatory military service (2009–2010) where he observed the state system of patriarchy and violence, which he would later often refer to in his projects. After practicing amateur photography for a long time, in 2016 he decided to get an education in this field. He enrolled in the school of Sergey Maximishin “Tsekh”, later he studied at the School of Contemporary Photography Docdocdoc in St. Petersburg, participated in Simon Menner’s master class in Minsk, took the online course “More than a project”, went to residencies organized by ISSP and Sputnik Photos and never stopped self-education. In the winter of 2022–2023, attended the Social Camp course organized by the Goethe Institute to support civil society in Belarus. During his student years in Europe, he worked as a waiter, which also impacted his practice and raised awareness of the food crisis, and other social issues which he’s trying to address in his projects. After the events in Belarus in 2020, he focused on the modern archive and propaganda narratives, and how an authoritarian system creates an alternative reality in the age of the Internet.