The origin of these collages is back in 2004 Uzbekistan. I came across a used book store, which was a rare thing to find. Not too many people could afford to care about books anymore. The stacks were completely neglected; everything was just piled in any empty space. Most of the materials were old books in Russian, but I did end up finding this vintage fashion magazine. The title translated as “Moda of the Soviet Socialist Republics 1972,” moda meaning fashion.

I can only imagine it was published as a display of freedom and progress; however it all came off as forced and awkward. The printing was drab. The fashion itself was impractical, looking like 60’s sci-fi. The models seemed stiff and a little confused. One woman in the Czech spread was posed holding two oranges like this was some big deal.

Maybe it was, considering Soviet shortages during those times. The funny thing to me was how this “Super Power” had just been fooling itself all along. It could publish this weak, imitation fashion magazine while everything was coming apart at the seams.

Living in Uzbekistan with the Peace Corps 12 years after independence, I was seeing the aftermath of the whole experiment. Society was regressing into desolation and had taken almost no time to get that way. While later, after returning to The States, I saw it was business as usual with the raging consumerism, Wal-Mart, Starbucks, cable news etc.

We did not seem concerned by what we were doing to the rest of the world, or how the world viewed us. Our own Super Power was deceiving itself, and I was taken by the idea that even this society could be on the way to collapse and people would be unaware right up to the end.

To illustrate this I returned to the Soviet fashion magazine. I decided to collage the Soviet-era models in front of contemporary scenes of dilapidation from the former republics. For the backgrounds I referenced drawings and photos from my own travels.