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Thursday 9 April 2009

Lenin in Tbilisi, Georgia

Hi to Macau, #103!

... So I was taking a bus through an industrial part of the city, in late March 2009 - not 15 years ago, not 20 - and there, looming over the top of a slab concrete wall, was this huge Lenin head thing. Reminded me of the massive Stalin portrait carried aloft by a hot air balloon in Milkhakov's film "Burnt by the Sun".

Next day I went back to the scene so as to photograph it as quickly as possible. Found a hole in the wall, snuck through to the abandoned factory site, got my shots amidst the garbage, and left, unseen or uncared-about. It was all very strange. Where was this metres-high monstrosity originally displayed? How long has it been here (there's clearly no body meant to be attached to it) - days, or nearly 2 decades?






1 comment:

Smorg said...

If only the Bolshevik could all be alive to see this Lenin's head now, ay? A reminder of how ideals and realities don't often get along (especially when one is too invested in the ideal to recognize when it is impractical).

Great shots!
Smorg :o)