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<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nInstallation view with Sputnik Photos, Anaklia, Georgia<\/em>, 2013 (right)<\/p>\n\n\n\n There is a sense of abandonment and decay in most of the pictures. We see a dilapidated diorama displayed in a museum in the Pushcha forest region of Belarus. The stuffed deers in the diorama have sadly fallen over. It echoes, we are told, the neglect of the ancient forest itself by the Belorussian state. Incidentally, half of this forest is in Sputnik Photos\u2019 native Poland and is under increasing threat from development and industry. As well, there is a photograph of the Semipalatynsk nuclear test site. This was the Soviet Union\u2019s version of the Nevada test site near Las Vegas. There was little regard for the local population around this area of Kazakhstan affected by the resulting radiation over the years. It speaks to us of the corruption and misrule by the authorities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Installation view with Sputnik Photos, Diorama from a museum in the Pushcha forest region of Belarus (left) and Kazakhstan, Semipalatynsk Nuclear Test Site<\/em>, 2016 (right)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Otherwise we find, for example, pictures of a disused bridge and border post, and a tottery straw monument erected as a commentary on the shoddy construction of the buildings destroyed in a major earthquake in Armenia. The sense of abandonment is only heightened by an almost complete absence of people in the pictures. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Installation view with Sputnik Photos, border post at Latvia and Estonia<\/p>\n\n\n\n Installation view with Sputnik Photos, Broken bridge, Uzbekistan <\/p>\n\n\n\n The collective\u2019s stated aim is to show the \u201ccontinuing consequences\u201d of this post-soviet region\u2019s failed utopian plans. The overall feeling one gets from these photographs is one of emptiness and malaise. The commentaries that accompany each picture, again, reinforce this. Certainly the legacy of soviet rule has not been positive in terms of the subsequent political and economic upheavals. But what purpose is ultimately served by documenting such things as the homelessness of earthquake victims and bad propagandistic art? I\u2019m not sure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n