CIVIC COMMISSIONING & MEDIA HACK
BELARUS /
COAT OF ARMS
Made a public brief out of a national emblem.
When Belarus announced its state symbol would be revised “at citizens’ request,” I crowdfunded and paid for a ≈$1.4k alternative — then used an absurd cat-led outcome to get people arguing about identity, taste and who gets to choose a country’s symbols.
THE WORK
In early 2020, Belarusian authorities said the country’s state emblem would be adjusted following requests from citizens. It was an unusually exposed moment: a national symbol was being treated like a small administrative correction while the people meant to recognise themselves in it had little visible role in the conversation.
I wrote a brief, opened a crowdfunding campaign and commissioned Art. Lebedev Studio to design an alternative coat of arms. The brief was clear: the symbol should feel like it belonged to a contemporary country with a long and complicated history; it should not lean on Soviet or Russian references; it should be legible to ordinary people, not merely tourist branding. I invited Belarusian designers to publish their own versions under #новый_герб_РБ.
The ≈$1.4k commission was crowdfunded and personally topped up. The Studio’s answer — a cat surrounded by tractors, potatoes, cornflowers and ornament — became the media hack. It turned a state-aesthetics adjustment into a more awkward public prompt: if this is obviously not the symbol we want, then what would be?
The story was picked up across Belarusian, Ukrainian and CIS media, including Onlíner, TUT.BY, Euroradio, 24 Kanal and NV. Facebook threads carried the argument further. The work was never intended to replace the official emblem; it made state symbolism discussable, visible and a little less owned by the state alone.
THE 2020 SYMBOL MOMENT
The official emblem in circulation when the campaign began, alongside the commissioned alternative used to make that change visible and discussable.
PRIMARY LINKS
- Art. Lebedev Studio — project, process and vector ↗Original commissioned output / released 28 May 2020.
- Onlíner — contemporary reporting ↗Public brief, commissioning context and the original discussion.
- TUT.BY — preserved archive ↗Archived national coverage; TUT.BY was later shut down.
- Euroradio — contemporary reporting ↗Independent Belarusian coverage / 28 May 2020.
- Wikimedia Commons — official emblem reference ↗Public-domain visual reference used in the comparison.
AFTERLIFE / 2026A private passport cover: the public intervention becoming a personal object.
EVIDENCE / 04 ITEMS
