Ukraine's Dizzying, Hyper-Intricate Mosaics
Through Soviet-era propaganda art, vestiges of communism still remain.
Ukraine gained independence from the Soviet Union more than 25 years ago, but vestiges of communism remain. On streets across the country, the faces of industrious peasants, inventive engineers, and pioneering astronauts still beam from propaganda mosaics.
- Yevgen Nikiforov01Yevgen Nikiforov documents more than 1,000 mosaics and other monumental public artworks in his book *Decommunized: Ukrainian Soviet Mosaics*. The photographs depict an idealized, futuristic vision of Soviet life that mesmerizes Nikiforov—no matter how short it falls from reality.
- Yevgen Nikiforov02Artists in Soviet-era Ukraine had trouble earning a living unless they joined the Union of Artists, a state-mandated organization established in 1957. It pushed work promoting communist ideology, depicting Soviet citizens as physically fit workers who raised families, forged steel, and even mastered atoms.
- Yevgen Nikiforov03Artists who complied were handsomely rewarded, earning as much as 1,000 Soviet rubles for a bus stop mosaic made of tiny pieces of ceramic and glass—a fortune when many Ukrainians made less than 100 rubles a month—or 6,000 for a large panel.
- Yevgen Nikiforov04Some might dismiss these works as propaganda, but Nikiforov points to mosaicists like Valeriy Lamakh and Alexander Dubovik, who incorporated subversive, abstract elements from their private painting into public projects.
- Yevgen Nikiforov05"The strongest monumentalist artists did not merely illustrate what the party told them in these mosaics," he says. "They communicate basic ideas that outgrow the propaganda, and that’s why they are still interesting."
- Yevgen Nikiforov06Nikiforov spent three years traveling some 22,000 miles through Ukraine by car, train, and bus to document as many mosaics as he could. Most had been created between Stalin's death in 1953 and the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union, and had since fallen into disrepair.
- Yevgen Nikiforov07The photographs raise deeper questions about how to deal with the controversial artistic heritage of the past: When does propaganda become art? If it is art, is it worth protecting? And is public space really the best place to display it?
- Yevgen Nikiforov08It seems some Ukrainians think the answer is no: Nearly 50 mosaics and other works, some featuring Soviet iconography like red stars or hammers and sickles, have been removed or destroyed since Nikiforov photographed them.
- Yevgen Nikiforov09But hundreds more remain—public reminders of a troubling era that ended more than a quarter-century ago.
Comments
Back to top
Laura Mallonee is a writer for WIRED covering photography. ... Read More
TopicsAMP Stories
North Korea in Videos: Inside the World's Most Secretive State
In late November, I had the opportunity to visit North Korea for a rare peek inside the most secretive country on Earth. All foreigner-oriented tours display a carefully managed, intentionally curated side of the country; with no opportunity for cross-examination, such visits don’t facilitate a journalistic treatment of life in North Korea. But the trip was fascinating nonetheless, full of revelations both sobering (kindergartens adorned with graphically anti-American murals) and mundane (people smile when smiled at). In this gallery, brief iPhone videos from Pyongyang offer windows into North Korea. No attempt is made to read the tea leaves or separate truth from stagecraft; the interpretation is up to you.
Jeffrey Marlow
Barcelona Street Art
There’s such a vast gulf of difference between the random kid who spray paints a cariacture of his fattest teacher with visible stink waves oscillating off of her on the side of his elementary school and the amazing graffiti murals of some of the best street artists that it’s sometimes hard to remember that they’re […]
John Brownlee
Canada Has Nicer People and Nicer Metro Stations
Check out the unique art and gorgeous architecture of the Montreal Metro.
Taylor Glascock
The Amazing Murals Created by Facebook's Artists-in-Residence
Drew Bennett was enjoying Dolores Park one weekend, hanging out with some friends, when his phone rang. Mark Zuckerberg, the caller told him, would be at his studio that afternoon. So Bennett left his friends, hopped on his bike, and pedaled across San Francisco to the Dogpatch, down near the bay. He didn’t expect the […]
Cade Metz
Inside the Hunt for Russia's Most Notorious Hacker
A mysterious cybercriminal deployed an invincible botnet to steal a fortune from US banks. Then the FBI discovered what else he was after.
Garrett M. Graff
Paramount Refused to Air an Ad Criticizing Its Merger With Warner Bros.
The commercial was submitted by the Freedom of the Press Foundation to run during Donald Trump’s UFC event. It criticized the $111 billion merger as a threat to the First Amendment.
Miles Klee
Why the Reflecting Pool Is Full of Algae After Trump's Renovation
Warm weather has fueled a bloom that National Park Service workers are trying to kill using everything from hydrogen peroxide to nanobubbles ahead of July 4 celebrations.
Molly Taft
Even the Internet’s Favorite Pool Guy Doesn’t Know How to Fix the Reflecting Pool
Algae blooms, peeling paint, and a host of fixes from hydrogen peroxide to nanobubblers have made it hard to diagnose what’s wrong with the Reflecting Pool—let alone how to clean up the mess.
Molly Taft
Submit Your Questions: Inside The World of Online Romance Scams
The Yahoo Boys author Carlos Barragán will join Kate Knibbs to answer your questions about Nigeria's romance scammers.
Kate Knibbs
An Explosion Knocked Out Anduril’s Rocket Motor Test Site in Mississippi
The incident could disrupt a key part of the defense company’s rocket motor business, which designs and tests prototype motors for military customers.
Paresh Dave
Designing the Dream House of an 87-Year-Old Tech Visionary
An icon of Silicon Valley’s counterculture, Stewart Brand is confronting his final years in a home that embodies the self-sufficient, DIY ethos of his famous Whole Earth Catalog.
Steven Levy
An Open Strait of Hormuz Won’t Fix Gas Prices Overnight
Even if peace holds up between the US and Iran, oil prices aren’t going back down to where they were any time soon.
Aarian Marshall