Video: The country of expectations: a photo cycle about the post-Soviet states in the 90s
2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55
Simon Crofts - the author of an interesting photo cycle "The Land of Expectations" dedicated to life in Ukraine, Russia and Belarus in the first decades after the collapse of the Soviet Union.
Simon Crofts, originally from Edinburgh, came to Russia in the 1990s to work as a lawyer and lived in our country for seven years. During this time, he has collected a lot of photographs, they capture people with whom he happened to communicate, as well as random passers-by. In addition to photographs, he has a lot of audio recordings, the artist was happy to talk about literature, music, history, getting acquainted with the worldview of Russians, their perception of life.
According to the author of the photo cycle, the countries that once formed Kievan Rus have common cultural traditions, the main thing that unites them is the constant expectation of changes. Simon notes with sorrow that today, striving for self-determination and rapprochement with other regions of the world, once united peoples are beginning to “share” aspirations, historical memory, economic and political systems and hopes for the future. He judges this, in particular, based on the latest events related to Crimea. If earlier it was a single cradle in which various traditions coexisted, as well as a kind of "window" into Byzantine culture, now it is a rather conflict region.
Of course, the author does not call for the revival of socialism, rather, his works are imbued with nostalgia for those times when, despite everyday difficulties, people willingly communicated with each other: “Despite all the absurdity of everyday life, people built strong and trusting relationships, supported each other, in the 90s it was easy to start talking on abstract topics with a stranger a few minutes after the meeting, as well as with an old friend."
Recall that another entertaining photo cycle about Russia and other post-Soviet countries owned by Dutch journalist Leo Erken.
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