Russia 2008

Photos by Adam Jones

These photos were taken on a month-long trip to Russia in May-June 2008.

Gallery 15: Tomsk

Fifteen hours northeast of Omsk by train is the delightful university city
of Tomsk, known as the "Oxford of Siberia" for its vibrant student life.

I.

II.

Another example of how the Soviet-era, red-star iconography is working
its way back into Russian public life; these public buntings were part of the annual
World War Two victory celebrations. (And the war itself, as previous galleries make clear, is
being quite consciously deployed as a unifying theme under the "unifying" authoritarian hand of
Putin and his clique, including the current president, Dimitri Medvedev.)

III.

Cheap beer from a public wagon, another holdover from Soviet times.

IV.

Tomsk, like Omsk, was a regular destination of political exiles, commemorated
here in a poster for a museum exhibition.

V.

For some reason, it was a popular day for weddings, and this pair was exploiting
the theme for advertising purposes.

VI.

VII.

VIII.

IX.

X.

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