I've three other books of Andrew Moore's remarkable photos: 'Blue Alabama'; 'Dirt meridian'; 'Detroit disassembled' and on the strength of those I thought I would get 'Russia' too. I'm pleased to say it didn't disappoint because the 120 photos, at least to me, perfectly capture the feel of this huge country. Though it's called 'Russia' so much of what is revealed is actually left over from the Soviet Union. If you look closely at so many of these images the poor quality and general shabbiness of buildings, either inside or out, becomes apparent. Only prestige infrastructures, like the Moscow Metro for example, has a feel of quality about it.
Moore's photos capture people and their environment rather than the beauty of the countries natural landscape. There are several wonderful shots of homes rich in detail revealing that Russians love to fill their rooms with books, greenery and artistic bric-a-brac on walls and shelves. The photos are particularly varied, Plate two is the stern of an icebreaker in dry dock. Plate twenty an executive office of Izvestia, Plate sixty-seven huge empty waiting room of Solovki airport. Plate 114 the interior of the St Petersburg's Museum of the arctic and antarctic. Fortunately the back pages have thumbnails and captions about many photos that made me ask 'What's going on here'.
The book is pleasant production, printed on a matt art with a two hundred screen and published in 2005 so I doubt that what these photos reveal has changed much in the last few years.
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