To the stars.

In remote Spitzbergisland, a thousand kilometers from the North Pole, a tiny Russiansettlement, Barentsburg, is among the most strange places I ever saw.Hardship is common from working in the mines, the extreme arcticclimate, and the ultimate isolation. Still, colorful muralpictures adorn a couple of buildings...

Which story would this wall tell you?

Maybe more environmental context would help? The drabness of the buildings around it? Do you have shots taken from further back, or wasn't that possible?

 

What does this make me think of? Let's see... Remoteness, lack of change, timelessness, they live under the new government as they lived under the old one. The harshness of their lives' remains untouched by the political movements goverening them. Small things may change, but ultimately it doesn't affect the day-to-day grind.

 

I wonder if they ever bought into the propoganda in the first place, are they old communist hardliners, or were these things just a bit of colour in their lives. Maybe they even hate them, these things always had a slight mocking tone to them... of course a communist may see it completely differently... if you want this ideal, you must work hard in these remote wastelands to make it happen...

It's an original shot, but I think in that case that frame doesn't help to image. Congrat

Meanwhile, I was e-mailed a translation:

Thanks to miner's work, people are living happily

Your work remains visible in satellites.

By your tired hand, You miner, you give light and warmth to everybody.

I may guess, that this piece of propaganda wasn't removed by two reasons, 1)Barentsburg is far from political centers like Moscow, therefore nobody even notice this slogan; 2)the text has no any specific relationship to communist ideals (exept the way of presentation), so it would be good for any government/political orientation. Probably, the miners and their managers even don't see it passing by every day there. And nobody wants to waste time and labor to detach it and burn (LOL).

This is another interesting piece of Soviet art/propaganda. I've always been fascinated by this type of art so I find it pretty interesting. Vlad's analysis of this seems right on. Photographically, while I don't care for the wall in the foreground, I can see how it helps frame the shot. This is another excellent find--it would be interesting to do a whole series of this type of shots taken in very remote locations.