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Tracesof
theSovietUnion
WOJCIECHGÓRECKI
Istalkingaboutapost-Sovietrealityjustified?Orisit
moreofanofence?Doesthetermupost-Soviet”even
makesensetoday–26yearssincetheSovietUnion
collapsed?Politicalscientiststendtoanswerthis
questionwithano.Yet,theworksofacollectiveof
photographers,knownasSputnikPhotos,showthatwhat
weareseeingnowissomethingofauSovietafterlife”
.
InearlyAprilthisyearIattendedapresentationinBerlinofaphotoproject
titledLostTerritories.Teprojectwascarriedoutbetween2008and2016bya
groupofphotographers,collectivelyreferredtoasSputnikPhotos.Duringthe
Berlineventoneofthephotographers,aPolenamedMichałŁuczak,presentedthe
mainpurposeoftheproject.Hispresentationwasfollowedbyadiscussionwitha
Russianwriter,SergeyLebedev,andme.Duringtheconversationwecametothe
conclusionthatthegreatestvalueoftheprojectdidnotlieintheartisticquality
ofthephotographsortheinterestingtravelrecollectionsthatweresharedbythe
photographers.Rather,itwashowitcapturedthetracesoftheSovietEmpire,both
materialandnon-material,whichcanstillbefoundtodayinwhatsomecallthe
post-Sovietspace.DoesthisfactmeantheSovietUnion,whichformallyceasedto
existoveraquartercenturyago,hassurvived,despiteconventionalwisdom?Or
perhaps,itsdeathisaslowandpainfulprocess?
