The official day of Liberation from National Socialism is celebrated in Germany on May 8th. In Russia, Victory Day is celebrated on May 9th. On 9th many people gather at the Soviet War Memorial in Treptower Park in Berlin. Expected celebration of the victory over fascism is replaced by a riot of different narratives: bikers who traveled the "grandfathers" path from Volgograd and Smolensk "to Berlin", Russian-speaking grandmothers singing war songs, a variety of Soviet, Russian, Ukrainian, German flags, children in the form of the Red Army to look like on their grandgrandparents, people in T-shirts with Putin, etc. In 2018, the last thing I could expect is to see the same Russian propaganda style of celebration in Berlin.
All this admiration for the Soviet and Russian in Berlin is noticed only during the celebration of May 9th. All other days, T-shirts with the slogan "I love Putin" are in the closets. What happens if a person with such an inscription takes to the streets of Berlin on any other day?
I printed a full-length of one person who was present on May 9 in Treptow Park and walked with her through the streets of Berlin, talking to people on the streets about the sympathies of people from Germany towards Russia.
From a series of photographs with a cardboard woman in different parts of Berlin, I made postcards. They were sent to my friends and one was addressed to Putin in the Kremlin. On the reverse side was a request to show this lady Russia and send me a report. Friends sent me pictures of postcards with local sights. Unfortunately, the answer from the Kremlin did not come.
9th of May 2018/ Treptower Park/ Berlin
photo series with cardboard women on streets / July 2018 / Berlin
postcards with cardboard women on Berlin's streets in Russia
