About

  • Photo: Lida Bondarenko

    Design: Aksana Zinchanka

    Maxim Sarychau (b. 1987) is a photojournalist, visual artist and software developer from Minsk, Belarus. Currently based in Wroclaw, Poland.

    He works on long-term visual projects on the edge of photography, journalism and art. Maxim deals with the topics of violence of various forms and grades, both from authoritarian regimes and within traditional society. His main interest lies in political and human dimensions of collective memory and history.

    Maxim balances art activities with developing software and investigating cryptocurrency technologies.

    He is available for editorial assignments in Poland.

  • Contact details

  • Employment

    Working on personal projects and on freelance assignments for local and international media and NGO. He was published in Wall Street Journal, Stern Crime, Der Spiegel, Die Zeit, Courrier International, Meduza, The Telegraph, Le Monde Diplomatique, Amnesty International, Forbes Russia, Ostpol, Republic.ru, Lenta.ru, The Verge, Cicero, Bilanz, Business Punk, Datum, Fluter, TAZ, Fotograf magazine, Publico.

  • Exhibitions and screenings

    2022

    • Politics in Art / Group Exhibition / 28.04.2022 - 26.02.2023 / "I don't want to kill you" project / MOCAK Museum of Contemporary Art in Krakow, Poland

    • Journalismusfest Innsbruck / Group exhibition "Long Live Belarus!" / 13-15.05.2022 / Innsbruck, Austria

    • Red Line / Group Exhibition / 12.2021 - 01.2022 / "I don't want to kill you" project / KKKC, Klaipėda, Lithuania

    2021

    2020

    2019

    2018

    2017

    • Group exhibition "One Can Not Be Too Careful" / 5.10.2017 - 26.10.2017 / CECH gallery, Minsk, Belarus

    • Tbilisi Photo Festival, Night Of Photography / 16.09 / "Blind Spot" / Tbilisi, Georgia

    • Space of Diffusion / 17.06 - 08.07.2017 / "Stolen Days" / Contemporary Art Space, Batumi, Georgia

    • "PRAFOTA 2017" award group exhibition / 08.06 - 30.06.2017 / CECH, Minsk, Belarus

    • Space of Diffusion / 17.05 - 16.06.2017 / "Stolen Days" / Tbilisi History Museum, Tbilisi, Georgia

    • Compilation: Angst / 23.06 - 25.06.2017 / "Blind Spot" / Kreativraum im Körnerpark, Berlin, Germany

    • Baltic Bienalle of photography / 25.05 - 25.06.2017 / "Blind Spot" / Kaliningrad, Russia

    • Kolga photo festival / 07.05 - 31.05.2017 / "404: Not Found" / Tbilisi, Georgia

    • "Cinema Perpetuum Mobile" Film Festival / "Lunch" video / Minsk, Belarus

    • Solo exhibition "Blind Spot" / 17.02.2017 - 08.03.2017 / CECH gallery, Minsk, Belarus

    • Solo exhibition "Stolen Days" / ... - 12.03.2017 / Museum of Genocide Victims, Vilnius, Lithuania

    • "404: Not Found" project / Vilnius Photo Circle photo festival / 24.02.2017 - 25.02.2017 / (Lithuania)

    2016

    • "Fortress Europe. East Bastion" group exhibition / 08.12 - 22.12 / Space KX, Brest, Belarus

    • Solo exhibition "Stolen Days" / 01.12 - 12.03.2017 / Museum of Genocide Victims, Vilnius, Lithuania

    • "Watch the news!" project with Alexey Naumchik / 20.11 - 21.11 / Y Gallery, Minsk, Belarus

    • "Salon d'Automne" art-fair / 06.10 - 30.10 / Palace of Art, Minsk, Belarus

    • "Talks about politics. Critical art in Belarus in 10-x" group exhibition / 14.10 - 30.10 / DK "Delai Sam", Moscow, Russia

    • "Acquired Reflex" project by LЁD Collective / 09.09 - 09.10 / Month Of Photography in Minsk photofestival (Belarus)

    • Tbilisi Photo Festival, "A hello to arms!" screening (Georgia)

    • "Belarusian Photography - PRAFOTA" group exhibition / 29.07 - 09.10 / Gallery of Classic Photography, Moscow, Russia

    • Photofestival of Young Russian Photographers, "PRAFOTA" exhibition (Russia)

    • "3rd Documentary Photography Days" photofestival, "A hello to arms!" screening (Turkey)

    • "PRAFOTA" award group exhibition (CECH, Belarus)

    2015

    • Screening of best projects on portfolio-review (Taiga space, Russia)

    • "A friend with two paws" multimedia screening (Istanbul, Barcelona, Braga, Moscow, Minsk, Grodno, Vitebsk, Kazan, Budapest, Krsko)

    • "Closer than close" group exhibition (CECH, Belarus)

    • "Transition" international group exhibition (Y-gallery, Belarus)

    2014

    • "Prafota" award group exhibition (CECH, Belarus)

    • "Photovisa" international photo contest, multimedia screening (Russia)

    • "Vilnius Photo Circle" international photo festival, open air exhibition (Lithuania)

    • "Process" group exhibition (CECH, Belarus)

    2013

    • "Warsaw Photo Days" international photo festival, personal exhibition (Poland)

    • "Vilnius Photo Circle" international photo festival, open air exhibition (Lithuania)

    • "Food Not Bombs" multimedia screening at film festivals (Vilnius, Warsaw, Moscow, Krsko, Poznan)

    2012

    • Expositions of winners of "Belarus Press Photo" contest (Minsk, Grodno, Vilnius, Krakow)

    • Screening of winners of "Belarus Press Photo Multimedia" contest (Minsk, Grodno)

    2011

    • Group-exhibition "Daily life" (Minsk)

    • Travelling group-exhibition "Human Rights and Civil Society in Belarus" (Berlin, Prague, Dresden, Zurich)

  • Awards and recognition

    2021

    2020

    • "PRAFOTA 2020" award. Grand-prix at Storytelling category. Finalist at Art and Doc categories (Belarus)

    2018

    • "Belarus in Focus 2017" international journalism competition (Belarus)

    • "MFM Buro" award: Photographer of the Year (2nd place), Exhibition of the Year (3rd place) (Belarus)

    2017

    • "Belarus in Focus 2016" international journalism competition (Belarus)

    • "PRAFOTA" award, finalist (Belarus)

    • "Baltic Bienalle of Photography", Grand-Prix at Free category (Russia)

    2016

    • "Cinema Perpetuum Mobile" International Short Film Festival, best Belarusian film (Belarus)

    2015

    • "Prafota" award, Grand-Prix at ART category (Belarus)

    • "Piter Foto Fest" photo festival, Grand-Prix in "Multimedia" category (Russia)

    • "Belarus Press Photo" contest, Grand-Prix (Belarus)

    2014

    • "Prafota" award, finalist with 3 projects in Documentary category (Belarus)

    • "Photovisa" international photo contest, 2nd place in Multimedia category (Russia)

    • "Belarus Press Photo" contest, 1st prize at "Nature" (series) category, 1st and 3rd prizes at Nature (single) category, 1st prize at Mobile category

    2013

    • "toKino" film festival, 1st prize, section "The Right to Speak" (Lithuania)

    2012

    • "Belarus Press Photo" contest, "Nature" category, 3d place (Belarus)

    • "Belarus Press Photo Multimedia" contest, 2nd place (Belarus)

    • "Golden Camera" international photo awards, diploma in "Conceptual photography" category (Ukraine)

  • Art residencies and workshops

  • Artist talks and lections

    • 2021 – Discussion "Belarus in focus", conference "Hybrids: Forging New realities as a Counter-Narrative" (Amsterdam, Netherlands)

    • 2021 – Online artist talk "Between Holocaust and Pandemic" that summarize work in 2020 & 2021 at Q21 art-residency (Vienna, Austria)

    • 2021 – Group online artist talk during ISSP art-residency (Riga, Latvia)

    • 2020 – "The power of images and mass mobilisation in Belarus" discussion organized by The Centre for East European and International Studies (ZOiS, Berlin)

    • 2020 – Discussion organized by FK Magazine and SHKLO platform (Latvia-Belarus)

    • 2018 – "Face It!" conference, workshop on cross-border journalism, Warsaw (Poland)

    • 2018 – "Presence" photofestival, portfolio viewing, St. Petersburg (Russia)

    • 2018 – "Plat(t)form" curated international portfolio viewing, Fotomuseum Winterthur (Switzerland)

    • 2017 – "Reporters in the field" workshop, artist talk (Germany)

    • 2017 – Lecture "Propaganda in photography", Congress of Belarusian Studies (Poland)

    • 2017 – Lecture "Reveal the hidden. Between journalism and art", CECH gallery (Belarus)

    • 2017 – Vilnius Photo Circle international photo festival, artist talk (Lithuania)

    • 2016 – Photofestival of Young Russian Photographers, artist talk (Russia)

    • 2016 – Lecture "Reveal the hidden. Between journalism and art", Belarusian State University (Belarus)

    • 2015 – Belarus Press Photo contest, artist talk (Belarus)

    • 2015 – Belarusian State University (Journalism faculty), artist talk (Belarus)

    • 2015 – "Transition" group exhibition, Y Gallery, artist talk (Belarus)

    • 2014 – Vilnius Photo Circle international photo festival, artist talk (Lithuania)

    • 2014 – International Summer School of Photography, artist talk (Latvia)

  • Education

    Maxim graduated from various photography educational courses and programs in Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia and Russia including CECH (Andrei Polikanov, Yuri Kozyrev, Tatyana Plotnikova, Stanley Greene), ISSP (Adrian Kelterborn, Anna Fox), FotoDepartament (Nadezhda Sheremetova).


    • 2021 – Workshop by Yuri Gudkov on "Conceptualizing photography" (Fotodepartament, Russia)

    • 2019 – Workshop by Clément Lambelet & Simon Mener (Russia)

    • 2018 – Workshop by Nicolas Polli (Russia)

    • 2016 – Longterm course on documentary filmmaking (Belarus)

    • 2016 – Workshop on conflict photography by Christopher Morris (Belarus)

    • 2016 – FotoDepartament residency (Russia)

    • 2015 – International Summer School of Photography (Latvia), workshop by Anna Fox

    • 2015 – FotoDepartament Institute (Russia), Nadejda Sheremetova course

    • 2014 – International Summer School of Photography (Latvia), multimedia storytelling workshop by Adrian Kelterborn

    • 2013 – Long-term course on documentary photography by Yuri Kozyrev, Andrei Polikanov and Tatyana Plotnikov (Belarus)

    • 2013 – Workshop on documentary photography by Stanley Greene (Lithuania)

    • 2010-2011 – Course on photojournalism by Andrei Liankevich (Belarus)

    • 2004-2009 – Graduated with bachelor degree in Computer Science at BSUIR