Vladimir’s Worst Nightmare
Budapest, Hungary
2011
O.K. maybe Comrade Lenin’s worst nightmare was that dream about Russia succumbing to capitalist imperial depredation; but showing up for work in his underwear was probably his worst nightmare that didn’t come true.
This photo was taken at a pizza joint in Budapest called Marxim Pizza. It opened in 1991, two years after the Russian revolution finally left town. The owners took it upon themselves to commemorate the country’s relationship with their former benefactors by decorating the place with Russian political memorabilia displayed, to say the least, quite irreverently. In addition to paintings like this there are defaced posters celebrating the Russian revolution on the walls and the booths are separated by chicken-wire and barbed-wire in sort of a neo-gulag style.