Bus Stops Of The Soviet Union: A Photo Study
WAITING at a bus stop in the former Soviet Union was much like waiting at a dolorous bus stop in the UK, only with better seats, no traffic cones on that roof, a roof and local art not defined by a massive spurting genitalia and directions to shag Baz at 4am.
Christopher Herwig has recorded bus stops of the Soviet Union on his camera. He tells the Times:
“In the Baltic countries and the former Soviet Union there was a lot more creativity in the bus stops than in Western Europe. I was quite amazed at how imagination was going into these edifices. In each town they’d put their own individual touch onto their local bus stop by hiring local artisans to decorate them. A lot of the architecture in the former Soviet Union is quite conservative and functional. What amazed me was that some of these shelters were not functional at all… A lot of these bus stops are in the absolute middle of nowhere, on some country road where there isn’t even a town close by. Some of them aren’t being used anymore and are run down and falling apart. I want to capture them before they’re lost forever.”
Here’s the thing: stop making expensive statement art, like the £200,000 giant Question Mark at the University Campus Suffolk, Ipswich, and create something that offers more potential than a quirky climbing frame. Let local artists and architects design their local bus stop. Anorak would create one that looked like a car, with steering wheels and stickers saying “Mum’s Taxi” and “Child On Board”, thus adding new elements of sweet pain to anyone waiting for a bus in the British countryside who has nothing to do aside from feeling alone, bitter, distraught and, ultimately, resigned…
Posted: 19th, November 2011 | In: Photojournalism Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
