Illustrations
Selected scans and archival materials will appear here
In 1992, the Belarusian publishing house Itex released a book of folk legends titled Заклятыя Скарбы (“Cursed Treasures”). Printed in 200,000 copies, the book quickly became a cultural phenomenon — not because of its stories alone, but because of the illustrations I created for it as a young artist.
Over the decades, these images gained an unexpected afterlife. On Belarusian book forums, Instagram, and collector websites, countless now-grown readers recall the fear, fascination, and sleepless nights the book caused. Some hid it under their beds. Some refused to sleep in the same room with it. Some burned their copies. Others treasured it, returning to its pages again and again.
When I returned to Belarus from exile in 2017 and held a solo exhibition of my graphic works, several visitors arrived carrying their childhood copies of Cursed Treasures. They asked me to sign the book that had haunted — or inspired — them for so many years. It was then I realized how deeply these illustrations had embedded themselves into the collective memory of a generation.
This page is an ongoing archive dedicated to the book’s legacy: its illustrations, its cultural impact, and the stories of the readers who grew up with it.
Selected scans and archival materials will appear here
If you grew up with Cursed Treasures and would like to share your story, you can reach me through the contact page on my main site.