Masha Sviatahor

Masha Sviatahor (; also transliterated as Masha Svyatogor) is a Belarusian visual artist known for her work with photography, collage, and mixed media. She explores themes of history, political critique and contemporary Belarusian constructs, employing photography, archival images, and Soviet propaganda materials.

Early life and education Sviatahor was born in 1989 in Minsk, then part of the Soviet Socialist Republic of Belarus. She has said that growing up in one of Minsk's dormitory districts "has had a considerable impact on my artistic practice ... both inspires and causes frustration and discomfort". She studied philology at Belarusian State University, graduating in 2013.

Artistic Practice

Sviatahor debuted as an artist in 2017 with a solo exhibition at CECH Art Space in Minsk. She was an artist-in-residence at the Cité Internationale des Arts in Paris from 2023 to 2025.

Sviatahor's practice reflects critically on her environment, exploring the contradictions of life in Belarus. She deconstructs and reassembles elements of the Soviet-era system of visual symbols, exposing gaps and inconsistencies within that former ideological framework.

A central feature of her work is the juxtaposition of historical imagery with contemporary events. She combines personal photographs with found material into layered compositions that blur the line between documentary and fiction, describing her interest as lying "between logic and absurdity, the order and the chaos, rational and irrational, resisting univocal interpretation or any definitive assessment". She has said her art practice grew out of an attempt to "transform my confusion and the feeling of loss, my inability to understand unfolding events and phenomena into a public statement and make my mental images visible".

In series such as Kurasoushchyna, My Love (2015–2017) and Everybody Dance! (2018–ongoing), she brings together artifacts and images that hold a significant place in collective memory and history. Her recent work draws on official photographs from magazines published in the Soviet Union to construct surreal depictions of Soviet-era culture, juxtaposing material from different historical and aesthetic contexts to prompt viewers to reconsider their assumptions.

Sviatahor has taken part in several socially engaged art projects, including STATUS – Artistic Practice and Social Change, a collaboration between Konstepidemin (Göteborg, Sweden) and Kryly Khalopa (Brest, Belarus) that examined the role of artists in society, focusing on themes including hidden labor and the working conditions of artists in Belarus. As part of this project, she produced illustrations and posters including for The Congress: Performance of Cultural Workers in Minsk and took part in several associated exhibitions. Some of her work was later included in the book Artistic Practice and Social Change: Observations from Sweden and Belarus (2019).

Selected Exhibitions 2025: Lost Territories: Tracing Imperial Violence, FOTODOK x Sputnik Photos, Utrecht, Netherland. 2024-2025: Displacements and Torrents, Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, France. 2023: Fotofestiwal Łódź, Poland. 2022: When The Sun Is Low - The Shadows Are Long, GfZK, Leipzig, Germany. 2022: When The Sun Is Low - The Shadows Are Long, Arsenał Gallery, Białystok, Poland. 2022: UNFAIR, Amsterdam, Netherland. 2022: Secondary Archive, Manifesta 14, Pristina, Kosovo. 2021: Prix Levallois, France. 2021: KVOST, Berlin, Germany. 2020: Circulation(s) Festival, Paris, France. 2020: Vintage Photo Festival, Bydgoszcz, Poland. 2019: Konstepidemin Art Center, Göteborg, Sweden. 2018: Obscura Festival of Photography, Penang, Malaysia. 2017: Fotopub Festival, Novo Mesto, Slovenia. 2017: Queering Yerevan Festival, Armenia.

Awards and Recognitions

2021: Prince Claus Seed Award. The Prince Claus Fund recognized Sviatahor for her ability to "transform personal confusion and the feeling of loss into public statements, critically reflecting on her environment". 2021: "Ones to Watch," British Journal of Photography. Selected as "Ones to Watch" for her unique approach to blending documentary and phantasmagoria, using photography to explore memory and identity. 2021: Special Mention Prize, Prix Levallois. 2020: Future Talent.

Publications

Books

Sviatahor's first book, Everybody Dance!, was published by TAMAKA in 2025. It draws on six and a half years of work to develop a visual language combining political critique with commentary on the historical use of photomontage. The book collects her "Collage Period" work and has been described as a reflection on the human experience of historical upheaval.

Everybody Dance! won two D&AD Awards, for Book Design and Book Cover Design, in 2026, and was longlisted for Die Schönsten Deutschen Bücher 2026 (Germany's national book design competition). It was also featured in the "Bookshelf" section of the British Journal of Photography (issue 7924, October–December 2025, "Body Talk").

Gallery