Vladimir Shakhlevich is an art photographer and one of the important figures of Belarusian and Russian photography. His career is divided into several periods.
His art is about the search for self and ones place in this life, existing independently of an official ideology. This led him to the studio of Valeria Lobko in Minsk (1983), in which was developed and implemented the concept of artistic photography as advocated by the Minsk School of Photography, together with the Kharkov, Moscow and Leningrad schools which laid the foundations of modern photography in the former and post-Soviet periods.
During this time he made a number of photo series with a social orientation, among them his famous "Portraits of Kolkhoz Leaders of 'Red Flag' " (1976) and participated in the photo project "Echo of Silence "(1996) organized by the Goethe Institute for the 10th anniversary of the Chernobyl disaster.
Shakhlevich's works from this period were widely represented in the major exhibitions of the perestroika period: Photo Manifesto: Contemporary Photography in the USSR, Baltimore; Eastern European photography, Copenhagen; Litsa: Contemporary Portrait Photography from Russia, Byelorussia and the Ukraine, Amsterdam; Fotografieaus Minsk, Berlin. "The Echo of Silence"; Photobienniale, Rotterdam. Works from this period are in museums and photographic collections: Museum of Photographic Art, Odense; Museum of Fine Arts. New Mexico, Santa Fe; National Museum of Art, Minsk; The Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum; Le Fonds national d'art contemporain (FNAC). Paris; Photography Collections of Harry Robson Humanities; Moscow House of Photography.
After the fall of the Wall, Vladimir dealt with the following issues: the expansion of living space, the rethinking of life, the spiritual richness of his own life, the artistic process and his relation to reality. In 2008, Vladimir Shakhlevich, together with Galina Moskaleva, Janez Sever SJ, Vadim Moskalev and Svetlana Gaivan organized the "Workshop on the Mount" in Moscow. A distinctive feature of art workshop participants is that the creative process is inspired by God's Word and open to the divine creation through dialogue and prayer. The workshop has developed a number of projects involving deep existential questions. They produced numerous exhibits as part of the Big Picture Series: Where are you?, Stars, Freedom, Death and Father.
"In my creative work, it is as if I go through a dense forest, symbolizing misunderstanding, complexes, chaos and the existing world. As I make my way through the thicket of my own errors and false premises, I am trying to enter into a clear space in order to find myself. "
