The blog

Essays and stories from the 5=3 project

Longer reads on the formula, the cities, the materials, and the people who carry plaques around the world.

A 5=3 plaque installed at the Linden Street Art Gallery, Hanover
September 11, 2026

A Week Across Northern Germany

One week, four cities: Berlin, Bremen, Bremerhaven and Hanover, back to back.

Travel
Anna looking at a wall covered in stickers and street art in Paris
August 24, 2026

Stickers in Paris

Paris is where 5=3 began. In 2026, Anna went back and left stickers instead of another plaque.

New format
Holding up a 5=3 plaque in front of a cathedral's twin towers
August 17, 2026

Grieving a Pregnancy Loss: What Actually Helps

Not medical advice โ€” just what women in this community have said, over and over, actually helped them carry a loss.

Healing
A grid of 5=3 plaques photographed on walls and streets across more than twenty countries.
August 2, 2026

From an Instagram Caption to a Street in Twenty Countries

How a single Instagram post in 2024 turned into a real-world street-art project anyone can stumble across.

Behind the scenes
Anna Maslennikov beside a ceramic 5=3 plaque on a street-art wall in Tel Aviv.
July 18, 2026

A Plaque as a Birthday Gift: Anna's Second Trip to Tel Aviv

A year after the project's first Tel Aviv plaque, a second one arrived as a birthday gift Anna gave herself.

Milestones
A green glazed 5=3 plaque set into a stone wall in Vienna.
July 3, 2026

Girls Supporting Girls: The Friends Who Carry Plaques Around the World

5=3 has never been a solo project. Meet the friends who packed a plaque in their suitcase.

Community
Attaching a ceramic 5=3 plaque to a wall in a graffiti-covered underpass
June 27, 2026

Borrowed Glue, Borrowed Sign: A Basel Story

Arriving in Basel without a sign or glue โ€” and how a friend and one open Sunday supermarket fixed both.

Behind the scenes
Placing a 5=3 plaque beside a doorway
June 18, 2026

Five Ways to Get Involved With 5=3

You don't need to travel or make anything to be part of this project. Five quiet, real ways to help.

Get involved
A 5=3 ceramic plaque against a colourful abstract street-art wall
June 3, 2026

Clay, Porcelain, Paper: The Changing Materials of 5=3

From a hand-cut ceramic shard to cast porcelain and street posters โ€” how the materials evolved.

Process
A year-end collage of 5=3 plaques placed around the world in 2025.
May 19, 2026

Sixteen Plaques, One Year: 2025 in Review

A look back at a year of the project โ€” new cities, a commission, a new format, and the friends who helped.

Year in review
A small ceramic 5=3 plaque resting on gravel among ivy
May 4, 2026

Why Pregnancy Loss Is Still Wrapped in Silence

Why so many people only learn how common miscarriage is after it happens to them.

Awareness
A 5=3 ceramic plaque wedged into the basalt columns at Garni, Armenia
April 19, 2026

What Happened When a Plaque Landed on Someone Else's Art

A plaque in Yerevan accidentally covered another artist's mural โ€” and the research sprint that followed.

Street art ethics
A ceramic 5=3 plaque mounted on a brick wall covered in colourful London street art
April 11, 2026

Finally in London

After a long time hoping to get there, a plaque finally went up on a wall of London street art.

Travel
A 5=3 ceramic plaque left beside a wall of Rio de Janeiro street art
April 4, 2026

The Project's Furthest Stops: Havana and Rio de Janeiro

How 5=3 plaques ended up beside a wall of Rio street art and on a colonial street in Havana.

Travel
A small ceramic 5=3 plaque resting on gravel among ivy
March 27, 2026

What a Broken Plaque Taught Me About New Year's Eve

A plaque cracked before New Year's Eve 2025 โ€” and said something truer than a perfect one would have.

Reflections
A large street poster made from pregnancy tests spelling 5 equals 3
March 20, 2026

A Street Poster Made Entirely of Pregnancy Tests

The story behind 5=3's boldest material experiment yet, up close.

New format
A hand-painted 5=3 ceramic tile held against a colourful tiled staircase
March 12, 2026

Fifty Formulas: The Artwork Being Built From Your Numbers

An open call for fifty real X = Y formulas, to be brought together into one large-scale artwork.

New format
A hand-painted 5=3 ceramic tile held against a colourful tiled staircase
March 5, 2026

Free Stickers, Real Streets: Introducing the 5=3 Sticker Pack

A small printable sheet of stickers, made with an illustrator, so anyone can join in.

New format
A hand placing a small glazed ceramic 5=3 plaque onto an outdoor wall
February 25, 2026

The Plaque Someone Else Asked For

The first 5=3 plaque made to someone else's numbers โ€” asked for by a stranger at an exhibition.

Milestones
Holding up a 5=3 plaque in front of a cathedral's twin towers
February 18, 2026

How to Support a Friend After a Miscarriage

Practical, non-clinical suggestions for what to say โ€” and what not to say.

For loved ones
A 5=3 plaque held up in front of a colourful street-art mural in Cyprus
February 10, 2026

Cyprus, and the Secret Agents Who Carry a Plaque

How a plaque reached Cyprus without Anna ever booking a flight.

Community
A 5=3 ceramic plaque wedged into the basalt columns at Garni, Armenia
February 3, 2026

The Symphony of Stones: When a Plaque Became Land Art

A happy accident, a circle of basalt columns near Yerevan, and a plaque that became land art.

Street art
A small ceramic 5=3 plaque resting on gravel among ivy
January 26, 2026

What's Left After the Loss

A plain list of what a miscarriage can leave behind, psychologically and socially.

Healing
A 5=3 ceramic plaque against a colourful abstract street-art wall
January 19, 2026

From One Plaque in Paris to More Than Twenty Cities

How a single ceramic shard grew, city by city and friend by friend, across four continents.

Growth
A 5=3 ceramic plaque set against a Luxembourg city backdrop
January 10, 2026

One Weekend, Two Cities: Paris and Luxembourg, Again

One year after the first plaque, a new one returns to Paris โ€” and two days later, Luxembourg again.

Travel
A close-up detail of a glazed ceramic 5=3 plaque.
January 4, 2026

1 in 4: Understanding the Real Numbers Behind Pregnancy Loss

What the statistic actually means, and why so few people know it until it happens to them.

Statistics
A 5=3 ceramic plaque mounted on a stone block in a Madrid park
December 28, 2025

Madrid and the Shift to Porcelain

After a year of hand-cut ceramic, the plaque in Madrid was the project's first cast in porcelain.

Process
A 5=3 ceramic plaque against a graffiti-covered piano in Georgia
December 20, 2025

Why Georgia: The Most Personal Plaque in the Project

A 2016 trip, a stopped heartbeat, and why returning to Georgia helped set something right.

Personal history
A 5=3 ceramic plaque against a graffiti-covered piano in Georgia
December 12, 2025

Returning to Georgia, Choosing Quiet This Time

A second, quieter return to Georgia โ€” this time to Telavi, near Saint George Church.

Travel
A small ceramic 5=3 plaque resting on gravel among ivy
December 5, 2025

What Is a Missed Miscarriage? A Plain-Language Explanation

A clear, non-clinical explanation of a loss that's rarely explained to pregnant people.

Education
Five broken ceramic 5=3 plaque pieces resting among red flowers and grass
November 27, 2025

One Big Plate, Five Small Plaques: The Rehovot Story

A large ceramic plate cracked in the kiln โ€” and became five separate 5=3 plaques instead.

Process
The first 5=3 plaque, with an Eiffel Tower motif, left on a stone step in Paris.
November 20, 2025

Where 5=3 Began: The First Plaque, Left Quietly in Paris

The story of the very first 5=3 plaque, left in a Paris street in May 2024.

Origin story
A small ceramic 5=3 plaque resting on gravel among ivy
November 12, 2025

Small Truths From the First Year

Three short, plain Instagram posts from 5=3's first year that turned out to matter more than any plaque.

Reflections
A close-up of the hand-painted 5=3 formula on a ceramic plaque, held up in front of Anna Maslennikov's face.
November 5, 2025

What Does 5=3 Actually Mean? The Formula Behind the Project

Breaking down the equation that gives the project its name and its purpose.

Formula