
Title: Red Utopia, Communist 100 Years After The Russian Revolution
Photographer(s): Jan Banning
Writer(s): Jan Banning
Designer(s): Peter Jonker
Publisher(s): Ipso Facto, Utrecht,The Netherolands & Nazraeli Press, Paso Robles, U.S.A.
Year: 2017
Print run:
Language(s): English, Dutch (attached pamphlet)
Pages: 142
Size: 28,5 x 37,5 cm
Binding: Hardcover
Edition:
Print: Platform P., Rotterdam, The Netherlands
Nation(s) and year(s) of Protest: World, >2017
ISBN: 978-15-90054-67-3























Since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the collapse of the Soviet Union, Communism seems like a thing of the past: relegated to the dustbin of history. But photographer Jan Banning’s Red Utopia looks at various corners of the world, where the ideology that so determined the course of the twentieth century is still alive and kicking.
Banning set off in search of locations in five countries (India, Italy, Nepal, Portugal and Russia) where the ghost of Communism is still alive and sometimes even dominates local mind-sets. In cities, towns and villages, he avoided the clichés of flag-waving demonstrations and instead documented the ‘private face of Communist parties: ‘the interiors of their offices with their often exuberant iconography of red flags and banners, portraits of Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin and Mao, and pictures of national party leaders and ideologues. He has also photographed local party activists, staring solemnly into the lens from behind their desks. Banning’s images are distinguished by their careful composition and lighting.
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