The Republican Ritual of Guilt and Shame

^{Plaques of honor are relics of the Soviet Union: massive marble or concrete walls installed at the entrances to large enterprises and state institutions, on which were placed portraits of productive "shock workers. In Belarus, boards of honor have never disappeared, becoming a kind of cultural code embodying the modern Belarusian state system.}

^{On the wall of the "Ritual of Guilt and Shame of the Republic" instead of photographs of "exemplary" employees hang screens showing "apology" films - confessions of ordinary people (about 1000 videos) taken into custody by state security services. People who were not guilty of anything, but were subjected to public humiliation simply for leading such a way of life: for "inappropriate" subscriptions in social networks, for belonging to the LGBTQ+ community,
and so on.}

<sup>This practice became widespread in Belarus in 2020. The session is recorded on video in the form of a monologue or answers to questions posed by the investigator off-camera, and then distributed online through state media, official accounts of the Interior Ministry, and pro-government social networks.

These videos are designed to humiliate and break the victim, intimidate other opponents of the regime, and reinforce the "rightness" of the regime in the eyes of its collaborators. Just a year ago such videos were rare, but now they have become standard practice. The ritual of guilt and shame. Another horrifying symbol of the domination of the state security services in Belarus and yet another proof of their terrorist nature. Not only does the regime not try to hide its brutality, it flaunts it to the world.</sup>

<sup>There is liberating potential in this work. To help the victims of shame move forward; to show that they are not alone in this, that there are many others who have been subjected to the same treatment. That it is not about their personal shame, but a mass protest against such rituals in a modern European country.

The work was made as part of the exhibition "HIGH FORM OF ART".</sup>