Photo: Politzek.me
Larisa, a former correspondent for Belsat, is now a former political prisoner and an ethnographic photographer. In 2025, she was deported from Belarus to Lithuania three months before her release. She is waiting for international protection in Poland; due to the Dublin procedure, her case has been delayed, and she needs support during this period.
At 53, after all the ordeals and losses she has endured, Larisa Shchyrakova, finding herself in a foreign country, no longer considers herself an activist – only a photographer. She has been taking photographs since childhood, when her father gave her a Zenit camera. Photography is her passion, as is ethnography. She is reviving Belarusian ethnographic photography: photographing people in authentic traditional clothing and taking part in ethnographic expeditions.
Until 2020, Larisa was a Belsat correspondent in Homyel. After the protests ended and repression intensified in 2021, she left the profession for her own safety and took up ethnographic photography. Unfortunately, this did not stop the regime: in 2023, she was convicted under two criminal charges and sentenced to three and a half years in a correctional facility.
While Larisa was serving her sentence, her mother died. Not only was she not allowed to attend the funeral, she was not even informed about her mother's death until a month later. Larisa's son, who was a teenager at the time and had always been a homebody, was sent to a shelter. The boy could only be taken in by his father, whom he had not seen for more than 10 years.
In September 2025, Larisa was forcibly taken from Belarus to Lithuania as part of a group of 52 political prisoners – three months before the official end of her sentence. Her release turned into exile: instead of her native Homyel, home, and loved ones – a foreign country.
After arriving in Lithuania, Larisa realized that she did not want to live there because she does not speak Lithuanian and has no acquaintances there. In Poland, she finds it easier to adapt to forced emigration because she can communicate in the local language and has moral support.
Larisa now lives in Białystok and is waiting for a decision on her international protection case. She has been placed under the Dublin procedure and risks being deported back to Lithuania.
Because of the lengthy Dublin procedure, Larisa has no opportunity to take up official employment. After her release, she lived in a shelter, and now she needs to rent housing. To make ends meet, she can earn money through photography, but this also requires financial investment in equipment, finding clients, and training.
Please support Larisa in her difficult financial situation and help her rebuild her life in forced emigration.
Fundraising goal
€3000
€1200 – housing for the next three months
€800 – equipment and gear for ethnographic photo sessions
€600 – legal assistance with her case (Dublin procedure) and interpreter services
€400 – basic needs