The Borderland Chronicles

A ‘stiliaga’ – the Soviet Union hipster of the 1940s and 50s.

I came across two very interesting articles this week pertaining to elements of Ukraine’s past and present culture.

The first, “A foreign affair: On the great Ukrainian bride hunt,” published in Harper’s Magazine, follows a man who goes undercover to learn more about the men that come to Ukraine in search of women to wed.

The second, “The Western Brand: The socio-cultural revolution of soviet mods against boring clothes, music and behavior in the USSR,” from The Ukrainian Week, explores the subculture of the stiliagi, a group of young, fashion-forward, progressive-minded individuals in the 1940s and 50s who copied the lifestyles of young people in the west.

I recommend checking out both.

Posted in Culture, History, Journalism, Kiev, Life, Russia, Soviet Union, Ukraine |

“Flora of Ukraine” by Interesni Kazki, The Wynwood Walls Project, Miami, 2011.

While I’ve never considered myself to an expert on the subject of graffiti art, or even a huge fan of it for that matter, I’ve been fascinated with the Ukrainian graffiti art duo Interesni Kazki (Interesting Fairytales) since I stumbled upon their work on a building near the Kiev Pechersk Lavra grounds. In the typically drab country of Ukraine, it’s hard not to notice their work when you stumble upon it. The vibrant and colorful surrealist pieces are typically large and emblazoned on the side of a building. After finding that first one, I made it a personally mission of mine to track down as many as I could while running around Kiev on errands or while killing time with friends.

But Interesni Kazki isn’t just local; the guys have done pieces in India, Spain, Slovakia as well as many other places. Recently they visited the states to work on a project in Miami (pictured above) and exhibit their art at a gallery in Los Angeles.

If you like what you see here, and you have some time to kill, I highly recommend checking out the Interesni Kazki blog.

Interesni Kazki, Kiev, 2010.

Waone of Interesni Kazki next to one of his pieces in Kiev.

Aec of Interesni Kazki next to one of his pieces in Kiev.

Posted in Art, Culture, Kiev, Russia, Ukraine |

If there’s something Ukrainians born in the U.S.S.R. pride themselves on more than their mosaics, it’s their cosmonauts. So I wasn’t so shocked during a visit to Konstantinovka to find the sides of bloc apartments along aptly named Cosmonaut Blvd. adorned with mosaic images of Soviet cosmonauts, including the renowned Yury Gagarin – the first human in space.

The buildings, built sometime during the 1960s, have seen better days. Many of the tiles surrounding the mosaic images have fallen off, leaving the building with a sort of scarred look. But the mosaics themselves remain mostly intact, if a bit faded.

After nearly two years here, I’m afraid a lot of the novelty I felt upon my arrival has worn off. Few things surprise me anymore. I’ve slipped into a life of routine similar to the life I had back in Portland. I think this would happen if you stayed anywhere long enough. But when I come across things like these images, remnants of a strange past – in this case, a Soviet past – that sleeping part of my mind that was once awed by everything around him is awakened.

“I live in the former Soviet Union,” I thought to myself when I saw the mosaics. “Wild.”

Posted in Art, Culture, History, Konstantinovka, Russia, Soviet Union, Travel, Ukraine |

Crossing of the Dnieper. (Переправа через Днепр).

Political commissar. Stalingrad. (Политрук. Сталинград.)

Monument to the civilians killed by the Nazis. Kiev Region. (Памятник мирным жителям убитым фашистами. Киевская область.)

The photographer, Arkady Shaykhet.

Born September 9, 1898, in Nikolayev, Ukraine, Arkady Shaykhet grew up to be one of the most famous Soviet photojournalists and photographers of the 20th century. His photographs of The Great Patriotic War (WWII), including the series Two Views of Kiev, at the time were known as ‘artistic reportage.’

As a staff photographer for the Soviet magazine Ogonyok (Light), his photos were often used as cover art. In 1926, along with a friend, he started Soviet Photo. Beginning in 1930, he worked as a freelance photographer for USSR in Construction. The magazine was known for its progressive style, which included full-page photos and even fold-out pages. Each issue, published in Russian, English, French, German and Spanish, was an elaborate artistic creation. The magazine’s main role, though, was to inform readers outside the Soviet Union of the construction going on within it, and to portray the country as an emerging superpower.

Over the years Shaykhet’s images have been shown in galleries from Moscow to New York City. He died in Moscow, aged 59, on November 18, 1957.

You can see more of Skaykhet’s photographs here and here.

Posted in Art, Culture, History, Journalism, Kiev, Life, Russia, Russian, Soviet Union, Ukraine |

I spent nearly two hours this afternoon going through the incredible multimedia project created by Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty to commemorate the fall of the Soviet Union.

“The Fall – Twenty Years After the Collapse of the U.S.S.R.,” looks back on the momentous event and the developments leading up to it with video interviews, photographs and an interactive timeline and map.

Each of the stories told by the people who lived under Communism – the miner who was arrested by the KGB for predicting a mining accident; the villagers who lived through the 1932-33 Holodomor under Stalin’s rule; the men who escaped to Finland only to be arrested, sent back and put in a mental hospital – are fascinating glimpses into an oppressive society.

If you have any interest whatsoever in this part of the world, I highly recommend checking this out.

Here it is: http://ussrfall.com/

Posted in Chernobyl, Culture, Donetsk, Food, History, Journalism, Kiev, Life, Media, Politics, Protests, Recent reads, Russia, Russian, Soviet Union, Ukraine |

I was recently asked by Matador Abroad to write two language pieces for travelers and others interested in learning Russian. The first piece, published today, is 8 essential tips for learning Russian.

An excerpt:

4. Keep a pocket notebook and pen on you at all times

My vocabulary would probably have remained at a sixth-grade level if it weren’t for my friends. It’s probably safe to say that I learn at least one new word each day just by conversing with them. So that I don’t forget any of these words, I keep paper and a pen on me at all times. A notebook also comes in handy when you can’t remember what that strange food was your friend made you try before. Don’t want to eat it again? Look it up in your notebook. “Aha! Holodyets – meat jello. No, I do not like this.”

A second piece about helpful Russian phrases for travelers will be published sometime later this month.

Posted in Communication, Culture, Media, Russia, Russian, Travel, Ukraine |

United States Secretary of State Hillary Clinton expressed concern Tuesday over Russia’s parliamentary election that she said was rigged.

Speaking at ministerial meeting of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in Vilnius, Lithuania, Clinton criticized Russia’s recent State Duma elections and urged the country to consider the OSCE’s forthcoming recommendations.

From Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty:

“As we have seen in many places and most recently in the Duma elections in Russia, elections that are neither free nor fair [undermine the people's confidence],” she said. “We have serious concerns about the conduct of those elections. Independent political parties such as Parnas were denied the right to register and the preliminary report by the OSCE cites election-day attempts to stuff ballot boxes, manipulate voter lists, and other troubling practices.”

Clinton also named former Soviet republics Belarus and Ukraine as countries that have recently shown signs of backsliding.

From the RFE/RL story:

“We see setbacks for democratic institutions, the rule of law, and electoral processes,” she said. “We witnessed prosecutions such as that of Yulia Tymoshenko in Ukraine, which raised serious questions about political motivations.”

A year ago, the Belarusian government arrested opposition leaders and their supporters in Minsk after protests broke out over the presidential election result that favored the incumbent, Alyaksandr Lukashenka.

Last October, in a move many believe to have been politically motivated on the part of current Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich, ex-Premier Yulia Tymoshenko was convicted of exceeding her powers while in public office and sentenced to seven years in prison.

Posted in Journalism, Media, Politics, Russia, Ukraine |

The Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars’ “dialogue” series this week discussed all things Ukraine.

Guests Blair Ruble, director of the Kennan Institute for Advanced Russian Studies, and Mark Medish, a former senior staff member for the National Security Council, covered economics, politics, corruption and more with host John Milewski.

As Medish put it, Ukraine’s still experiencing “growing pains.” Ruble said it’s a “good news, bad news” situation here. The good news being that Ukraine is still independent 20 years after the fall of the Soviet Union, with many valuable resources. The bad news being that the political system hasn’t been able to capitalize on the assets of the country.

If you haven’t tuned into “dialogue” before, I highly recommend it. The program, aired weekly, explores world news, ideas and events through conversations with public figures, scholars, journalists and authors.

You can watch dialogue’s “An Update From Ukraine” in its entirety HERE.

Posted in Culture, History, Kiev, Media, Politics, Russia, Soviet Union, Ukraine |

The only daughter of Josef Stalin, the Soviet leader who imprisoned thousands and was responsible for the Ukrainian famines of the early 1930s that killed millions, passed away last week at her home in Wisconsin.

More surprising than Stalin’s daughter, Svetlana Alliluyeva (later she would be known as Lana Peters), living and dying in the United States (she defected in 1967) is that the infamous leader’s granddaughter is a Portlander.

In a Nov. 28 story in The Oregonian, Chrese Evans (pronounced like “Chris”) remembers her mother and her accomplishments.

Evans … said her mother was an talented writer and lecturer who taught at Princeton University and did not just draw on her father’s past to write two books: “She had a lot of accomplishments in her own right,” she said.

Peters died Nov. 22 of colon cancer at her home in the city of Richland Center, Wisconsin. She was 85.

Posted in History, Media, Politics, Russia, Soviet Union, Ukraine |

Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovich, as well as Ukraine’s wealthiest and most influential businessmen, on Tuesday turned out for the fourth annual Donetsk International Investment summit. With the help of some friends in Donetsk (News of Donbass), I, too, was able to attend the event.

I arrived at 10 a.m. with my laptop and camera in tow. For three hours I photographed and observed people like Ukrainian billionaires Rinat Akhmetov and Viktor Pinchuk while they schmoozed with each other and answered some questions of local and national press. Unfortunately, my business Russian isn’t quite up to par, otherwise I’d have participated more in the back and forth. Still, I got some good shots of the event and attendees, including the presidents.

Around 2 p.m. Medvedev and Yanukovich emerged from a room on the top floor. Media flashbulbs greeted them as they descended the staircase to the main summit floor. Anticipating their appearance, I positioned myself in the front of the media circus next to a security officer who made sure no one came from around my left side to obscure my shot. Passing by only a few feet in front of me, I couldn’t help but notice that the Russian president is a hair shorter than me. Yanukovich, however, is nearly an entire head taller, and very stout. The two men entered unsmiling and tailed by more than a dozen security officers.

Conducted in mostly Russian, as well as some Ukrainian, I missed out on the meat of the discussion. I can tell you, though, that there were talks about gas contracts and future cooperation between the two countries. On the same day, at around the same time, Mykola Azarov, Ukraine’s Prime Minister, was signing a free trade deal with Russia that will do away with taxes on some imports and exports.

Some other (personal) highlights of the day:

- Following Akhmetov and Pinchuk into the buffet and asking a server if I could have “one of these muffins, please,” and being told, “Young man, these are the ministers muffins.”

-Making eye contact with Medvedev as he descended the stairs to the summit. Also, locking eyes with Pinchuk as I took his photograph.

-Doing my own schmoozing (in Russian) with journalists from around the country.

See more photos of the presidents and the the Donetsk International Investment Summit at my Flickr page.

Some of my photos also appeared on the News of Donbass website. Look for “Фото Кристофера Миллера” below the photos to see which are mine.

Posted in Donetsk, Journalism, Media, Politics, Russia, Ukraine, Uncategorized |