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Second-Class Sentient Beings
“We are children of a mute country.” Graffiti on a wall in Petersburg, 11 February 2024. Identity of photographer suppressed for their own safety. Last night I dreamt I was taking a long exam to see whether I “met the standards of the biological species.” The examining committee was chockablock with priests, Cossacks, and members of the ruling party. A bust of Stalin stood on the table. The…
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Russia Reads
A young man on the Nevsky Prospect in Petersburg reads a book by Friedrich Engels whilst handing out discount coupons to the nearby so-called Lego Museum. Source: Marina Varchenko (Facebook), 9 November 2023 “‘The Arab world is not just beautiful ethnic costumes, exquisite dishes, and other One Thousand and One Nights-type stuff, but also brutal dictatorships, poverty, a high tolerance of…
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"We Love You, Uncle Zhenya"
I went to see the spontaneous memorial to Prigozhin on Zolnaya [“Ashes”] Street [near the former (?) Wagner Center office building in St. Petersburg]. I have to say that what I saw impressed me. People kept coming and coming—young dudes and girls, men who were slightly older, and some people even had their kids with them. They brought flowers. They stood and looked for a long while. Some got down…
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Moving Pictures
People ask how things are going for me on the professional/international front. My answer: nowhere fast. For two reasons. Firstly, the clusterfuck in which “our village” (c) has become entangled, imposes certain restrictions. By working with foreign galleries and submitting works for international awards, I risk getting branded a “foreign agent.” You can’t explain to the comrade major from the…
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How Russians Are Forcibly Conscripted
“Summer in Petersburg”: photo by Marina Varchenko The Russian security forces have been increasingly organizing dragnets to sweep up potential army recruits. This is occurring amidst a full-scale war with Ukraine in which the Russian army has suffered heavy losses. There are more and more accounts of these roundups. Mediazona, for example, details how a 25-year-old Muscovite, employed in the IT…
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Mounted
Photo by Marina Varchenko. The banner behind Petersburg’s newly minted mounted police features an illustration of and a reference to the Battle of Poltava (1709) and a quotation from Alexander Pushkin’s poem The Bronze Horseman (1837): “Now, city of Peter, stand thou fast, / Foursquare, like Russia; vaunt thy splendor!” The mounted police have returned to the streets of St. Petersburg. Source:…
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I Had a Dream
“The USA is the archenemy.” This photo was taken by my friend M. on a recent walkabout in Petersburg. I had a dream before finally waking up today. My husband telephone, saying that he had been working in Pushkin today (which never happened, but okay), and couldn’t come home. I asked why he couldn’t—it was just past six in the evening, according to the clock. “Just you take a look at the sky,”…
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Nevsky Prospect
A street concert on Nevsky Prospect in Petersburg, date unknown. Photo courtesy of ZAKS.ru A draft regulation for the authorization of street performances was published on the website of the Government of St. Petersburg on April 11. The new rules should take effect from May. Musicians will be obliged to notify the district council of their desire to perform ten business days before the concert.…
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