Sandra Ratkovic – Moscow

Whilst photographer Sandra Ratkovic (*1980 in Frankfurt am Main) was documenting abandoned military airports, barracks, and other leftovers of the old Soviet regime in Berlin and its surroundings, she became curious about Russia and its culture today. In 2015, she went to Moscow for the first time in 2015-the result is a cycle of absurd, colorful, disturbing, and touching photographs. The tragi-comical color photographs show a contrasting Moscow: the omnipresent military and the ubiquitous Putin cult meet kitsch and folklore. Insignia of globalization can be found next to Orthodox churches, which almost disappear amid gas stations and gray apartment blocks. In documentary style, yet at the same time tongue-in-cheek, this photography book draws a portrait of everyday life in this post-Soviet nation as a potpourri of pop-patriotism, tradition, and modernism.