This is a belated publication of Gid’s mini photographic project from 2016, as we cycled across the southernmost states of the old Soviet Union (and indeed, the empire of the Czars). But the funny thing is, looking at it anew in 2024, in the USA’s mid-west, how it could as easily be here. Our metropolitan, English, eyes didn’t twig that abandonment and dereliction can be more about

h a v i n g

a b s o l u t e l y

l o a d s

a n d

l o a d s

o f

s p a c e

than _poverty.

Voice from 2016: I’m told there’s a photographic convention not to mix colour and black and white photos. So this posting is a little gallery of B&W in a certain style.

In the ex-Soviet Union states, it’s easy to create atmospheric, grimy looking photos apparently of dereliction and decay, and B&W adds to the “cold war” atmosphere. Much of man’s work in the desert is tatty and battered, but still working. This especially goes for buildings, and even more so, the Soviet era designed vehicles, which to our (parents) eyes would have looked obsolete when introduced in the 1970s. . . It’s fun to play photos with, but, dear reader, don’t think it’s an entirely accurate picture of these countries and people. Catch it before it’s gone!