windows of opportunity
This photo project was born to remind the world: every release from a Belarusian prison is not a political talking point or a number in a statistic — it is a life returned to freedom.
In 2024–2025, a series of humanitarian negotiations resulted in the release of dozens of political prisoners in Belarus. For the first time in years, the possibility of broader releases became real. Each person who walked free stepped through a narrow window of opportunity, opened by dialogue and focused on human dignity.
This photo project captures that moment. These are people who spoke up, paid the price, and were reduced to symbols of repression. Our project aims to return their subjectivity and their humanity. We sought to see the people, not the trauma — to capture their resilience, their capacity for joy, and their desire to start life anew.
During the shoots, they spoke not of politics or prison, but of simple moments that now feel like a privilege: of family, of looking at the open sky, and of their homes, spoken of with deep warmth and longing. Their quiet, often radiant expressions remind us what freedom truly means.
This is not a story about suffering; it is a story about the profound human capacity to move forward after tragedy.
These people are now free and rebuilding their lives, but thousands more remain behind bars. They need the same chance.
Mikalai Dziazdok
”Freedom, for me, is first and foremost the ability to speak out loud what you truly think. Home is the place where my friends are. Life now is daily work. I think about those who remain in prison with pain.”
Anastasiya Hancharevich
”Home is the peace and warmth you feel beside those you love. Freedom is a state of the soul that cannot be taken away. Life after is the joy found in simple things. To those who remain — may every new day bring strength and inner peace, and may hope stay close even in the hardest moments.”
Antanina Kanavalava
”Freedom after imprisonment is when you open your eyes in the morning and realize that the day belongs to you, not to a schedule or the inhuman people in uniform. Life after imprisonment is moving forward with your wounds, but not allowing them to turn into shackles. Home is the endless “Mom, look!”, the little ones who rewrite your story with their love.”
Dzmitryi Lukscha
”Freedom is where you can feel the taste of life… Where you walk in the direction your heart wants… Where you don’t clench your fist in helplessness and emptiness. In prison remain People — sincere and real, those who are struggling right now, who are in pain, who cry at night. But they are People — and this is the most important thing we must remember.”
Kseniya Lutskina
”Freedom is the highest value. You truly understand how much is hidden in the word “freedom” when you lose it. A year after my release, I felt alive. I finally had desires. Very simple desires. I am just learning again to make plans, to want. I have simply started to live normally.”
Yauhen Merkis
”Freedom for me is not only the ability to say and do what you want, but also the responsibility for yourself and your loved ones, when no one orders you how to live. My home is always with me.”
Danuta Peradnia
”Freedom is about the strength of the spirit. A strong-spirited person cannot be deprived of inner freedom. But every person needs physical freedom to be able to live and do what gives them energy.”
Palina Palavinka
”Freedom is a life without constant fear; it is choice, it is safety and the quiet of home, it is loved ones nearby. I know that for those who remain imprisoned, it is very lonely and frightening. They are people who suffer and fight through the daily pain of despair, yet still carry hope within themselves.”
Larysa Shchyrakova
”I am, thanks to God, the Universe, and good people, once again a free person and finally have the opportunity to take charge of my own life. And this is an exciting and moving feeling.”
Aliaksandr Yarashuk
”What does freedom mean to me? I perceive it as being reborn — with all the stages a newborn goes through. I am learning to speak again, to communicate with people, to walk, and so on. All of this is a consequence of the extreme experience of being in prison.”
Iryna Slaunikava
”For me, freedom is one of the most essential values. The most important thing is to preserve my inner freedom, even if my physical freedom is restricted: not to betray my principles, not to deceive, not to commit wrongdoing, and to remain true to my beliefs.”
Natallia Dulina
”Freedom is the absence of fear.”
Vladimir Matskevich
”Prison is not a place for a human being, even one who has erred. The prison system was invented to correct evil, to isolate criminals, but it itself becomes evil.”