White Dress

White Dress is the first book by Belarusian artist and documentary photographer Aksana Veniaminava, and it grows out of the project that made its name. Veniaminava, born in 1986 in Vitebsk and now based in Paris, photographed women with their dresses at home, years after the wedding day, and recorded their testimonies. The author herself is one of 36 heroines of the project, as well as her sister, who plays an important role in the narrative. Many of the women in White Dress have kept their wedding dresses for ten years or more. They see the dress as proof that their marriage has lasted. Some keep it packed away and take it out on anniversaries. Others give it a new life: a daughter wears it, it is sewn into a different outfit, or it becomes a costume for a children's show. Not every marriage lasts as long as the dress, though, and even then the decision to keep it or throw it away is not easy. The White Dress book is not simply a reproduction of the photographic project. It reopens the conversation and invites readers to look again at the decade-old images. It encourages them to consider whether perceptions of the white wedding dress as well as idea, or perhaps the myth, of marriage have changed over time or remained the same. Contrary to expectations, the book’s cover is not white. It echoes the colour of the ashes left from a wedding dress burned by one of the project’s heroines. At the same time, the book contains a hidden treasure — author’s wedding dress pattern — as an instrument for believers to continue the tradition. Join this controversial discussion and find out which side your are on — a carrier of the tradition or its opponent. Edition of: 300 copies Language: English Publisher: TAMAKA Designer: Alexey Murashko Text: Maya Hristova Release Date: September, 2026 Pages: 176 Cover: Hard Printed by: Jelgavas tipogrāfija in Latvia Size: 24х32.5 cm ISBN 978-3-00-087445-1