THE POZNAŃ-BASED publisher Zupagrafika documents Brutalist, prefab, and other concrete structures throughout Europe, focusing on their minimalist patterns and colorful flourishes. Their newest volume, Concrete Siberia, is a companion to last year’s Eastern Blocks (see our review here), focusing on Russia’s vast far north.
Divided into six chapters covering the cities of Novosibirsk, Omsk, Krasnoyarsk, Norilsk, Irkutsk and Yakutsk, the photographs show the humanity, and even occasional whimsy, of the region. Siberia’s endless, ever-present snow, rather than an oppressive force, serves instead as a way of softening the harshness of the structures, and many photographs include passersby to bring a human dimension, however small, to these monumental buildings.
The book includes a foreword by Konstantin Budarin, offering background and context to this remote and often misunderstood region.
Concrete Siberia
Authors: Zupagrafika (David Navarro & Martyna Sobecka); Alexander Veryovkin (Photography)
160pp, hardcover, 19 €
