‘Frozen In Time’: Polish Artist Creates Cycle Of Paintings About Belarus

She secretly photographed customers and sales assistants in the GUM store.

Polish artist Paulina Olowska created a cycle of paintings about Belarus. They are presented at the art exhibition called Belavia. Since 2016, the artist has repeatedly visited the Belarusian capital, taking pictures of the city, writes magazynszum.pl.

The artist perceives Minsk as “culturally frozen in time.” According to her, it awakens the memories about the period of formation of the Communist Poland in her mind.

The works at the exhibition research the architecture, style and traditions of the country, which, according to Olowska, looks like “a hidden socialist utopia”.

Many paintings from the “Department Store” cycle were painted in the GUM store. Inspired by the novel by Émile Zola “The Ladies’ Paradise”, which tells about the power of the Fashion House in Paris in late XIX century, Olowska secretly photographed customers and sales assistants in the GUM.

“On the contrary to Zola’s book, which is the symbol of capitalism and flourishing of the modern city, the GUM looks like a capsule of time of the Cold War period; only the goods of Belarusian manufacture are available there, no Western brands,” states the website.