23.05.2021

Painting

60x80 cm
Acryl, canvas
2021

On May 23, 2021, the Boeing 737-8AS of the Irish operator Ryanair was on the international regular flight FR4978 from Athens to Vilnius. Three minutes after entering the airspace of Belarus, the pilots received a message from the local dispatcher that, according to information from the special services of Belarus, the airliner was mined. A few minutes before leaving the airspace of Belarus, the Boeing was deployed and, accompanied by a Belarusian MiG-29 fighter jet, was sent to the national airport “Minsk”. After the plane landed at the Minsk airport, the KGB enforces detained two passengers: oppositional Belarusian leader Roman Protasevich and his girlfriend, a citizen Russia Sophia Sapega. Information about mining was not confirmed.

This work also has a second meaning. The paper airplane is a symbol of independent media in Belarus. There are independent media all over the world, there are many of them and they are not prohibited. At the same time, all media in Belarus are controlled by the political regime.