Artist and researcher Sviatlana Talatai took part in the international conference Explorations on Sound and New Media Art: Urgencies, held on 5–7 November in Porto, Portugal.
Sviatlana was selected as one of the speakers and presented her performance-research project In Search of Belonging: Sound, Identity, and Exile in Artistic Practice, a live narrative with video fragments exploring sound, exile, and the search for identity.
The conference brought together researchers, artists, and media practitioners from around the world working at the intersection of sound, politics, ecology, and new media. For Sviatlana, this was her first appearance at an international academic event and immediately as a speaker.
Sviatlana shares her impressions:
“My presentation was very different from the others: instead of technological or theoretical research, I presented a personal storytelling approach focused on sound, exile, and the search for identity. At first, I was concerned it might seem ‘not academic enough’, but the response was very warm. People came up to me, thanked me, and said they had never encountered the experience of forced migration before. I made new professional connections and already have ideas for my next project. This was my first international conference and my first presentation in English and now I clearly understand the direction I want to pursue.”
Participation in the conference enabled Sviatlana to present the Belarusian context within an international professional community, expand her network, and take an important step in developing her artistic and research practice.
