Thursday, 05 November 2009
On October 25th, Belarusian Museum in New York featured the exhibition of Yahor Batalyonak’s paintings entitled "Abjareg". Twenty six artworks which the artist has brought from his native land were presented to about fifty guests at the public hall of St. Cyril Turau Cathedral in Brooklyn.
Some visitors of the exhibition had tears in their eyes while looking at the artist’s paintings; obviously, every one of his artworks reminds of our Belarus, which is so far from us and so close at the same time.
Depiction of nature and Belarusian life style are major themes in Yahor Batalyonak’s works. The sun, meadows, forests, an intricate road, a spring thaw – everything reminds us of Motherland and brings us closer to it.
The performance of Zmitser Sidarovich and Tatsiana Mataphonava, musicians who came from Minsk to the US to participate in a number of events organized by Belarusian community, made the exhibition even more emotional. The song “Pagonya” by Maksim Bagdanovich performed by Tatsiana and the sounds of Belarusian traditional “duda” deeply touched our souls.
Watch fragments of Belarusian musicians’ performance
A working woman, rye stocks, golden-colored Fall, early morning, a play of the light, traditional clay pots, the warmth of Summer, a forest, a small village, a country yard… The brush of the artist reminds us of those favorite places and people that are thousands of miles and decades far from us yet are always with us in our hearts.
Those familiar contours and lines in the artworks bring up our emotions and memories. They carry us over to the beloved homeland, where our caring hardworking mothers raised us, where Belarusian spirit of our centuries-old history full of suffering and pride makes us Belarusians.
"Abjareg" (averter) is something that protects us. This is what we have to keep, respect, and appreciate.
"Abjareg" is our Belief and our Love. Love towards God, towards our native land and its spiritual heritage.
"Abjareg" is the light as a symbol of life; the light that shows, forms, and animates reality through the artist’s works, reflecting his own inner perspective.
By knowing and protecting our heritage we will protect ourselves and our Belarus.
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The show of Ryhor Batalyonak’s paintings is the 18th exhibition presented by Belarusian Museum in New York in two and a half years of its existence.
We are glad that more and more young people show their interest in the work of the museum and participate in events taking place in this one of its kind organization in the US.
We urge everyone who cares about the future of Belarus to pay attention to events organized by Belarusian Museum in New York and Belarusian Youth Movement of America and to actively participate in them for the benefit of our beloved Belarus.
