Belarusian Generation Y logbook

As it was mentioned in the very beginning the aim of this blog is to open the life in Belarus for people outside. Of course, the best way to do it is not just to read blogs but to go and see it. And this is what the hero of the following interview did. Massimiliano Clausi, a young Italian photo-journalist, went for a two-weeks trip to Belarus to see how the young people of the so-called “last dictatorship in Europe” live. Below you can read about his impressions from staying in Belarus and if the stereotypes regarding Belarus, that he built from the news and friends, turned out to be true. The interview was made during the last days of Massimiliano in Belarus by Vola Vitushka.

Italian photographer Massimiliano Clausi is reflecting on contradictory diversity of new Belarus seeing it through the objective of his camera. The young photographer has already been to Serbia, Romania, Kosovo and Myanmar. In Belarus he visited the Basowiszsca, attended the usual Tuesday generation.by community meeting and experienced the lifestyle of Belarusian youth in the village.

Massimiliano Clausi was born in Genoa (Northwest of Italy). He has been engaged in photography since 2006 but still feels like a beginner. Four years ago he received his 1st diploma in Communication Sciences at the University of Siena (Toscany). He started to work as a photographer and in 2 years he decided to be a photojournalist.

Massimiliano studied photojournalism at the Danish School of Journalism. 3 years later he went to the Northern France to take photos of illegal immigrants coming from Africa and Middle East to cross the English Channel to get to the Great Britain – their dreamland. The trip could take over a year due to the extreme poverty of immigrants.

After winning the Canon scholarship for young photographers Massimiliano went to the North of Kosovo to make a reportage in Mitrovica which today is still divided between Serbians and Albanians. It was the beginning of young photographer’s journey to different countries. One of his works dedicated to ethnic minorities called Caran in Myanmar was published.

Today Massimiliano Clausi is in Belarus to take photos of young people, Belarusian Generation Y, city dwellers and villagers, young businessmen and musicians – to illustrate Belarus in different ways.

Why Belarus?

“My first contact with Belarus was through a Belarusian photo-journalist Andei Liankievich. We met during the master class in Italy almost a year ago where we both were invited. I was really impressed by his works. Most of them were about his home country. I was interested in photos of young people. I knew about the political situation in Belarus and decided to make a reportage here. And this is the right moment to do it”.

The impressions on Belarus before and after

“Before the trip I had a general idea about Belarus. I have been to Romania and Kosovo. I was interested in Eastern European and former Soviet countries. So of course I knew something about the country but not much. I think that Belarus is somehow better and somehow worse than I imagined.

In reality Belarus is in better situation because I expected to find myself in a very gloomy and oppressive atmosphere. Many journalists call Belarus the last dictatorship in Europe. So I expected to see the police control in the streets and was ready that it would be impossible to make photos. The impressions of foreign photojournalists I’ve read were scary: they warned me to be careful in the streets, not to take photos of police and official buildings. I had absolutely different experience.

I observed living youth culture here. Maybe it happened because I communicated with the most active part of young Belarusian society

Belarus is in the better situation because I thought that Belarus is more similar to Russia. My travel guide book published in 2004 puts Belarus and Russia together. Surely there is some similarity but not such big. Belarusians are more open-hearted and hospitable people.

Belarus is in the worth situation because of low quality life conditions in the village. Here people don’t have central heating and toilettes in their homes. And also I noticed the big difference between Minsk and the rest of the country. But even in Minsk people don’t live in houses of European standards. I’ve read about the remarkable Belarusian economy growth – so-called Eastern European wonder. That’s why I thought that ordinary Belarusian citizen earns much more money and has greater variety of international goods to choose. But this is not the case”.

Basowiscsza

“The impression is that the festival is one big family. Everybody knows each other. Even well-known Belarusian groups have very close relationship with their fans. And it is almost impossible to imagine that in Italy (maybe because the population is 60 millions). There are no any barriers between musicians and the audience. The average level of performers is quite high. I liked Rahis, IQ48. But mostly I was impressed by Dick4Dick from Poland. Their style is truly original”.

The people I’ve met

“The best. This was really tense and emotional experience. I felt like a stranger who was suddenly dipped into Belarusian life. I never met these people before and in a moment I am living with them, visiting their families, having lunch and dinner together. I am really impressed!”

The photos made during the trip to Belarus will be at emmeclausi.it web-site and in different Internet- and printed foreign mass media interested in Belarus. Massi left us but promised to come back. Eventually in Belarus he had friendly-business trip instead of solely working visit he had planned.