Opinion: «Today Crimea means ‘Crime'»
Pavel Vrzhesch: We’ve annexed one of the letters in the peninsula’s name, and Crimea became «Crime» (Фото: banda.agency)
We used a very simple method to develop a visual identity. We’ve annexed one of the letters in the peninsula’s name, and Crimea became «Crime». We won’t give the old name back to Crimea until Crimea itself is returned to Ukraine.
This material was prepared as part of the «How We Will Get Crimea Back» project — an initiative of Ukrainian journalists from Crimea. It’s goal is to find instruments and solutions for the de-occupation and reintegration of the peninsula.
AUTHOR: Pavel Vrzhesch, Founder and Creative Director at Banda Agency
Every time I need to specify my place of birth, I write «Dzhankoi, Ukraine» — with my hand tight around the pen, I press harder on the sheet of paper when I get to «Ukraine.»
It’s been seven years since the occupation, and I’m still full of anger and powerlessness. We cannot change anything but it’s impossible to stay passive any longer.
The occupation seemed like some sort of fantasy scenario at first — no, that can’t happen in a civilised world. Before my eyes, Crimea turned into a military base which is now a threat to the entire world.
My homeland no longer has freedom of movement, freedom of speech. There is even limited access to the resources needed for life.
The UN General Assembly proclaimed Russia’s annexation of Crimea illegal on March 27, 2014. Since then, in every language but Russian, Crimea means crime.
To make this idea a fighting tool, we developed a visual identity using a very simple method. We’ve annexed one of the letters in the peninsula’s name, so Crimea became «Crime». We won’t give the old name back to Crimea until Crimea itself is returned to Ukraine.
Unfortunately, actually changing Crimea’s name on the map proves to be an impossible bureaucratic feat, but we Ukrainians will definitely come up with something. We always do at creative agencies.
