Of all museums I've been in my entire life this is my favorite. And this is exactly the layout of typical grocery store of my childhood. White tiles, blue scales and empty shelves.
I vividly remember it was sometime in winter. It was cold, wet and dirty. Store clerks were rude. We had some food coupons, but they didn't mean anything. I didn't understand much what was happening. I was five years old.
Almost every room of this museum brings a little something from my childhood. Some items are exactly the same as we had back then. Glasses, VHS players, vinyl records and some weird wooden things purpose of which I still cannot understand.
I remember most of what is shown here. I remember these stupid TV shows and Santa Barbara series. I remember 96 "vote or lose" campaign. I remember tanks shooting at the white house. I remember December 31, 1999 my parents discussing that Yeltsin is going to leave his post this evening, several hours before it was announced. How did they know – I would never understand. We didn't have anything like Internet back then and they were nowhere near any political quarters. Still, they knew.
It's the museum of him. Our first elected president. No matter what you think of him as a person or a politician, and no matter if you like politics, it's a good museum. For me it's twice as good, cause it's very personal, it brings a lot of memories and a feeling of what was our world like when I was from five to thirteen. It brings back something I didn't even know I remembered.
I love being here. First time, I spent here three evenings in a row. I was kicked out twice cause the museum was closing. Today just three hours were enough.
And my feelings are different every time. It was, of course, always the museum of something that is lost. This weird, hard and dangerous time of 90's. Horrible time. Lawlessness and anarchy. I still miss it though.
But it's not only my childhood that is lost. Not only Soviet Union. Not only this wind of change feeling. There's something else. There's freedom.
The museum is all about freedom. The way from the cage we were living in to the open field. From where almost everything was restricted to where almost everything is allowed. And now we're losing it again. I look at the fundamental freedoms listed here in the "hall of freedom" and it definitely feels like we don't have some of them anymore. Our media or meetings and associations – they're not so free. They are at least strictly moderated. So, we're losing it little by little.
Well, I don't know who's to blame and if anyone should be blamed. I know who I want to blame, but I'm not sure if it's right. As I've recently understood from my own experience freedom is a tricky thing. It's hard. It takes a lot will power. A lot of time and energy. A lot of hard choices. And a lot of responsibility. Most people just don't want that. They just want some hypothetical opportunity to do anything they want. But none of the heavy stuff that comes with it.
And it seems I've written much more than necessary for one picture. But it's always the same after this museum. Thoughts and feelings just seeping out of me. And it's probably another proof that this is a place worth to visit.
I enjoy your images and your words. And I agree, most people don’t want the hard work, they are happy to believe whoever tells them what they want to hear, even if it is obviously not true or possible.
Wow, this is truly such an impact. I would never have understood the image without your words, because of the difference in where I grew up, and the time I grew up in.
Your deeply thoughtful words have shot to the heart - please keep doing what you do and find a way to make a difference. This world is in trouble, all of it, in different ways that merge to be the same in the long run. You are the kind of force that can effect change!
Your deeply thoughtful words have shot to the heart - please keep doing what you do and find a way to make a difference. This world is in trouble, all of it, in different ways that merge to be the same in the long run. You are the kind of force that can effect change!