Irina Lawton | Thinking About Photography

Irina Lawton

Red Colors of Disillusion

Echoes of the Red Empire. This project, based on documentary images, explores the phenomena of propaganda through the visual reconstruction of the disappearing icons of Soviet ideology.

Walking along the street of a Russian provincial city several years ago I was suddenly struck by the image of a hammer and sickle under my feet. I turned around and saw the remains of a propaganda decoration on top of a typical Soviet era concrete fence. The shadow, created by the late September sun peacefully existed on the ground as any other ordinary shadow - people were walking by unaware...

Russian society still lives in a period of painful changes and adjustments for people, especially for the older generation. Some of them will never adjust and never change. Their minds were shaped by propaganda; their existence was surrounded by soviet symbols that became the landmarks of their reality. They still see things in red colors - the red colors of disillusion - sometimes bitter, sometimes frightening…