Fotograf Zone – Ihar Hancharuk

What if I Am a Spy?

After years spent abroad, Ihar Hancharuk returned to Belarus with the intention of creating a project on national identity. Instead of open acceptance, he encountered distrust and fear—people asked whether he might be a spy. This moment became the starting point for a series exploring the atmosphere of suspicion and paranoia rooted in a country marked by state control. Hancharuk photographs banal urban scenes and everyday objects, which, in a new context, acquire the character of “evidence.” By combining documentary and staged approaches, he creates a fictional narrative about a spy who does not want to be one. The project reflects the experience of being a “stranger in one’s own country,” where even the act of looking becomes political. What if I Am a Spy? is not only the photographer’s question, but also a portrait of a society in which every gaze is treated as a threat.

Co-funded by the Creative Europe program of the European Union, FUTURES is a platform to increase the capacity, mobility and visibility of it's selected artists and to bridge the gap between emerging and established artists.

TIES THAT BIND
October 4–12, 2025
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Venue · Holešovice Market, H11A / the Glass Hall (Skleněnka)
Bubenské nábř. 306, 170 00, Prague 7 Holešovice
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Opening Hours · 10:00 a.m.–6:00 p.m.

Ihar Hancharuk

is a Belarusian artist working with experimental formats and visual media to address identity, collective memory, propaganda, and contemporary socio-political issues. His background in languages and experiences during mandatory military service inform his critical view on patriarchy, violence, and media influence. Since 2020, he has developed projects on propaganda and historical violence in Belarus, aiming to amplify Belarusian artistic voices internationally. His practice often incorporates language, humor, irony, and simplicity, while questioning originality, repetition, and authorship.

#49 Talk Together

This issue explores language – its forms, possibilities, and limits. We look at how we communicate in the digital space, how the language of artificial intelligence changes our notions of creativity, and how visual images can replace words. You will discover why language is never neutral and how it shapes identity, creates inequalities, and opens paths to liberation. The issue features a reflection by bell hooks, the artistic practice of Eszter Magyar, projects documenting the Roma community in Brno, and visual essays by Claudia Larcher and Tabor Robak. The magazine presents language as a tool of communication, power, and resistance and invites you to reflect on what it truly means to talk to one another today.