A new exhibition, “Entry Point: The Women’s Case,” opens at the Free Belarus Museum — a project dedicated to women’s experience of resistance, freedom, and the price women pay for the right to be subjects in an authoritarian system. The project was prepared by the Free Belarus Museum in cooperation with Association of Women Political Prisoners “Pobach”.
Through clothing and personal belongings of Belarusian women, the exhibition reveals stories of resistance, loss, vulnerability, and strength. These garments are not merely fabric or objects. They have become witnesses. They carry the touch of fear and determination, the cold of prison cells and the warmth of solidarity. They tell the stories of women who defended and continue to defend dignity — in the streets, in courtrooms, behind bars, and in freedom.
The exhibition is conceived as a space of personal histories, where clothing and objects become a language — a language of testimony, pain, dignity, and strength. Each exhibit is a material proof of state violence and at the same time proof of resilience.
For the first time, new artifacts are publicly presented:
— the prison clothing set of Palina Sharenda-Panasjuk;
— personal belongings of fighter Masha Zaitseva, who was killed in Ukraine;
— an artifact of Marina Mentusova;
— belongings of Maria Kalesnikava;
as well as other women’s items reflecting the scale of resistance.
A separate section is dedicated to the prison experience of women political prisoners. Here one can see worn heavy prison boots used in both frost and heat; jackets and uniforms marked with chlorine stains and yellow “political” tags. These objects preserve traces of systemic humiliation, yet also of human endurance.
The main focus of the exhibition is to show how the personal becomes public, how fragility coexists with courage, and how memory grows through material. How ordinary items — a shirt, a jacket, a pair of shoes — acquire the meaning of a document, an archive, and a symbol of resistance.
The project gains particular significance against the backdrop of the scale of persecution of women in Belarus. According to human rights organizations, as of mid-2025, around 1,996 women have been convicted in politically motivated criminal cases. The real number may be significantly higher, as many cases are not publicly reported. Among those convicted are single and multi-child mothers, pensioners, women with serious health issues, as well as those detained as minors.
Under administrative charges, between 2007 and summer 2025, women were convicted 10,996 times. The real figure likely significantly exceeds official statistics.
Our goal is not only to create a deep and multilayered exhibition that tells Belarusian and international audiences about the human rights and women’s rights situation in Belarus, but also to make the project meaningful for the repressed women themselves — through visibility, solidarity, and support.
This is women’s cause.
And this is our cause.
