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Olga Frantskevich

B 1937 (BELARUS)

BORN IN THE FORMER USSR IN 1937, OLGA FRANTSKEVICH WAS A CHILD OF WAR, LIVING UNDER GERMAN OCCUPATION UNTIL THE AGE OF SEVEN. TAUGHT BY HER GRANDMOTHER HOW TO SEW, AND LACKING IN PAPER TO DRAW, SHE BEGAN TO EMBROIDER ON SACKCLOTH SHE FOUND AT THE FARM WHERE SHE WORKED TO SUPPORT HER FAMILY AND YOUNGER SIBLINGS.

IN HER EIGHT DECADE, FRANTSKEVICH TURNED AGAIN TO HER FAMILY’S LEGACY OF EMBROIDERY TO CAPTURE HER MEMORIES AND THE HISTORY OF THE WAR, EXHIBITING HER WORKS TO THE PUBLIC FOR THE FIRST TIME IN 2007. 

FRANTSKEVICH’S HAND-WOVEN TAPESTRIES TELL, IN BRIGHTLY COLOURED AND DREAMLIKE TABLEAUS, THE STORY OF THE WAR. PERSONAL STORIES, OF HER FAMILY, OF HER FATHER, THE PARTISAN HERO KUPRIN SERGEY GAVRILOVICH, OF A DAILY LIFE OF SUFFERING PUNCTUATED BY MUNDANE CHORES AND DREAMS OF A BETTER LIFE. BUT THEY ALSO CAPTURE, AND PRESERVE FOR FUTURE GENERATIONS, THE COLLECTIVE EXPERIENCE OF THE WAR.

TODAY, HER WORK IS HELD IN MUSEUMS IN RUSSIA, INCLUDING THE MUZEY BALASHIKHSKIY AND THE MUZEY RUSSKOGO LUBKA I NAIVNOGO ISKUSSTVA.

SUBVERSIVE STITCH, TJ BOULTING, (LONDON) 2019
OF A LIFE/TIME, THE GALLERY OF EVERYTHING, (LONDON) 2019

“CHILD OF WAR,” WOMEN IN OUTSIDER ART, RAW VISION #103 2019