Descent into the Marsh
Descent into the Marsh is a visual document of protest that highlights the universal human quest for freedom and dignity. The book functions as an open archive, regularly updated with new media articles and reflections on ongoing struggles, providing a lasting record of unfinished events that remain unblocked and uncensored online.
This book serves as an archive of a pivotal moment in Belarusian history, documenting the 2020–2021 protests while drawing parallels with the 2019–2020 Hong Kong movement.
Published in late 2024, just before Belarus’s 2025 elections, it highlights ongoing repression, with thousands of political prisoners and around a million people forced to flee. The author connects the protests in Belarus and Hong Kong as examples of modern resistance shaped by digital control and China’s geopolitical influence.
The book also examines the exchange of repressive practices between the regimes in China and Belarus, focusing on the role of surveillance technologies. The combination of modern surveillance with traditional methods of intimidation points to the evolving challenges facing protest movements.
The project was written by Lesia Pcholka, edited by Black Seeds in Hong Kong, and curated by Katarzyna Zielinska of zusa gGmbH. The design was created by Karolina Pietrzyk and Tobias Wenig, with typefaces KTF Concrete and KTF Prima used throughout.
