Komyati, Ukraine, 1992

Today: Remember, to avoid repeating, if possible in this world. Fascism was defeated those decades ago, but communism had taken solid hold.

Chiatura & Jvari Etseri, Georgia

Lenin & Stalin from pebbles, Chiatura

Local children in an old car, Jvari Etseri

Lali picking tea (she knows so much about village life!), Jvari Etseri

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?

Lenin's Choice, St Petersburg, June 1993

I don't know how long this billboard was allowed to remain - not just that at a certain angle, Lenin was pointing to Coca Cola, but that he would be endorsing WHATEVER was advertised there. I took advantage, though: setting up my tripod at the required angle, and waiting with a slow shutter speed for a red Lada car to come through and blur itself into an echo of the Coke logo.

Tony and Vladimir, Murmansk, Russia, October 1993

My first trip to Murmansk, above the Arctic Circle, 28 hours by train from St Petersburg. There are still many images of Lenin around Russia, both pictorial and sculptural. The resemblance is unfortunate, but has its uses; and at least I don't look like Stalin! (Apologies to the Georgians for that comment. Nothing personal.)