The cultural heritage of the Soviet period is not only limited by totalitarianism thinking, cultural and scientific stagnation, violation of rights and freedoms, militarized policies and mechanisms of ruthless repression. Yes, all of this is certainly true, but many people who are thoroughly imbued with this ideology, still can not accept the fact that they lived in a lie. For them, the Soviet Union was a country of opportunities and prosperity, confidence in the future, constant comfort and peace for their children. Of course, this illusion is implanted like a chip, and it’s not so easy or even worth convincing them in the opposite. The USSR were the years of my grandmother’s youth, blooming chestnuts and lilacs, the glorious May Day and the feeling of universal unity. Was it hurtful for her to lose it? Certainly.
The collective Soviet trauma is one for all. It is impossible to divide it, to split it or to crumble it. It is a huge concrete block that lies on the shoulders of all post-Soviet countries, especially those which were a part of the USSR from their birth to their death. The Soviet mentality still oozes everywhere: in the absence of personal space, in imposing its views and opinions, in rejection of other people’s points of view and in rejection of such a large and different world. The Soviet and post-Soviet people still live in their cocoon of righteousness and nostalgia, from time to time receiving a cultural shock from the changes everywhere around.
I dedicate my project to my grandmother and thousands of people who have to put up with the reality on which they did not bet. For them, everything that we are used to from our birth, is still a long and unnatural dream. No, my grandmother is not a zealous fighter for the glorious Soviet past, present and future, but rather a victim of circumstances. All of this is about de-communization in her mind and in the minds of others, which has been going on for 27 years.
