The Human Dimension:
Windows of Opportunity

This photo project was born to remind the world: every release from a Belarusian prison is not a political talking point or a number in a statistic — it is a life returned to freedom.

In 2024–2025, a series of humanitarian negotiations resulted in the release of dozens of political prisoners in Belarus. For the first time in years, the possibility of broader releases became real. Each person who walked free stepped through a narrow window of opportunity, opened by dialogue and focused on human dignity.

This photo project captures that moment. These are people who spoke up, paid the price, and were reduced to symbols of repression. Our project aims to return their subjectivity and their humanity. We sought to see the people, not the trauma — to capture their resilience, their capacity for joy, and their desire to start life anew.

During the shoots, they spoke not of politics or prison, but of simple moments that now feel like a privilege: of family, of looking at the open sky, and of their homes, spoken of with deep warmth and longing. Their quiet, often radiant expressions remind us what freedom truly means.

This is not a story about suffering; it is a story about the profound human capacity to move forward after tragedy.
These people are now free and rebuilding their lives, but thousands more remain behind bars. They need the same chance.

We believe Europe now faces its own critical window of opportunity. The humanitarian track for releases has begun, and the next step belongs to the European Union: to turn values into action and ensure more Belarusians get the chance to live freely, at home, in their own country. We want Europe to see not just geopolitics and the struggle, but the human beings for whom they are acting.

This project is an invitation to everyone to keep the human and humanitarian dimension of this issue at the forefront. They are not merely assets in a political deal; they are people whose lives must be saved.