Jazep Drazdovic

Jazep Drazdovic was born on October 31, 1888, in the farmstead of Punki near Hlybokaye. Studying at the Vilnius School of Drawing, he worked as an ethnographer, archaeologist, and teacher, walking thousands of kilometers through Western Belarusian villages to collect folklore and paint traditional painted carpets (malyavankas).

A visionary amateur astronomer who claimed to experience astral projections, Drazdovic produced stunning cosmic painting cycles in the 1930s—including Life on the Moon, Life on Mars, and Life on Saturn—depicting extraterrestrial cities, spaceports, and crystalline temples decades before the space age. He died in rural poverty in 1954.