ROADSIDE objects
Working with archival photography and the history of everyday life, Lesia Pcholka draws on the works of Belarusian ethnographers. Her series Roadside Objects is inspired by Mikhail Romanyuk’s monograph Belarusian Folk Crosses (2000), the result of over 30 years of research into funerary and roadside crosses once placed in villages or at crossroads to protect against epidemics, wars, and disasters. These crosses blend Christian and pagan traditions, a hallmark of Belarusian spirituality.
In today’s political climate, studying Belarusian ethnography is increasingly challenging. Researchers often rely on 40–50-year-old knowledge, subjective ethnographers’ accounts, and black-and-white photographs. For her research, Pcholka mapped all villages photographed for Romanyuk’s book and undertook three expeditions to find the documented wooden crosses – none of which remained. Many had disappeared naturally or been replaced with metal versions, decorated by locals in eclectic styles, which influenced Pcholka’s choice of a contemporary photographic language.
In Belarus today, everyday life remains a space for self-expression. Pcholka sees heritage as a dynamic, discursive construct, with older monographs distancing researchers from living communities. In her images, the crosses are removed from the landscape, appearing suspended in air – alienated and timeless. Emerging like flashes on the roadside, their brightly colored ribbons and flowers are more likely to be associated with queer pride than with the patriarchal past. While stripped of original meaning, the crosses endure and are continually reinvented through uncoordinated, vibrant social practice.