Georgian designer attaches occupation message to passports
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A freshly launched design product enables Georgian citizens to travel across the world with passports telling the story of the ongoing foreign occupation of their country.
A passport holder designed by freelance designer Giorgi Popiashvili offers both artistic and informative glance at the military occupation of the two breakaway provinces of Georgia under Russian control.
It presents a brief headline on the fact of about 20 percent of Georgia’s territory — the provinces of Abkhazia and Tskhinvali (South Ossetia) — being under the control of occupying forces since the 2008 Russian-Georgian War.
The holder also features a visual reminder of the barbed wire line marking administrative boundary between Georgian-controlled territory and the two regions.
As freedom can never be resigned to barbed wire, you can attach your message [of protest] to your passport and travel with it throughout the world”, said a product summary from creators.
The case is produced and sold by Giovanni Morra, a Tbilisi-based brand of men’s accessories and presents.
Giorgi Popiashvili is a freelance designer who graduated from the Miami Ad School Europe and has worked in a multitude of branches including graphics, advertising and photography.
Young Georgian designer Irakli Sabekia, a student of Design Academy Eindhoven, has been honoured with the Melkweg Award for the school's graduates for his installation turning a razor wire denoting Russia's ongoing occupation of Georgian regions into a voice of protest.
Georgian and Paraguayan Foreign Ministers, David Zalkaliani and Antonio Rivas Palacios signed a visa-free travel agreement for citizens holding ordinary passports.
Popular Georgian singer and songwriter Nino Katamadze on Sunday became the latest artist from the country to announce they would drop show dates in Russia, in protest of Russian occupation and following over 10 days of rallies against the Kremlin's politics in Georgia's capital Tbilisi.
Artists from around the world joined young Georgian creative Tedo Rekhviashvili, a student at the New York Academy of Art, in support of Georgia and against the ongoing occupation of two of the country’s regions in an artistic project involving displays in the United States.
Georgian citizens residing abroad will be able to receive passports for free in May. Georgians living abroad with expired passports should appeal to diplomatic representations or consulates of Georgia for registration.
Georgian citizens are coming up with different ideas to spread the message about the Russian occupation in as many different and creative ways as possible.
What would your country’s map look like if a fifth of it was occupied by the Russian military?
A large group of Georgian citizens have formed a human chain to protest Russian occupation of Georgian territories. The protest took place near the occupation line.
Georgians residing in Germany have held a demonstration in protest of the Russian creeping occupation of Georgia.
Students have spent an overnight near the occupation line between Georgia and its Russian occupied region of Tshinvali (South Ossetia).
The people of Lithuania have ventured out into the capital city in a public show of support for Georgia’s territorial integrity following Russia’s creeping occupation into Georgian territory.