Sunday 14th March Postcard

Dear All,
Let's have a look at another aspect of Baikonur, "the reverse side of the medal"as the French would literally say. The city used to be rich (and is still relatively rich) but some areas looks completely abandoned with the progressive withdrawal of the Russians. Some of these empty places carries very expressive art and striking messages. That is what I would like to report today on this postcard.

The picture below is taken in the center of Baikonur, less than 200m from the main market place. The building has apparently burned and is left empty. With a spelling mistake, the slogan on the wall (Zemlja Mucur [for Mucor?]) states: "Earth is dirty" or "Earth is a trash can" . How can we disagree?
Effectively, each morning passing along the Kazakh village of Turyatam thousands of plastic bags lay on the ground or fly with the breeze transforming the wild landscape in a dump. Who cares?

Behind this building, there is another amazing graffiti on the wall:
I have no clue what this poor kid breathes or smokes but it/he doesn't look particularly healthy.

Continuing few meter further, there is a long wall inside the city. Many of the wall elements are painted the same way as the Berlin East side gallery.
Many tags make reference to the RAP (REP? in Russian) or Hip Hop, the typical militant music of the socially devastated western suburbs.
REP eto sila is written below, meaning REP is the strength.

Some of them are more figurative expressing may be youth anxiety or self defense

Finally, Batman (or spiderman) appears to be a positive hero here in Baikonur, while the Hippies "Peace and Love" logo presence seems rather anachronistic not to say completely cryptic at this place.

Leaving the place, 2 kids were asking me:
-Pochemu ty cdelali fotografi? (why did you take pictures?)
I just answered them
-...Souvenir!

Baikonur is for sure a complex place, that is why it is so interesting.

From Russia with love.
Kirill B.

PS:
A Kazakh guy (I saw him twice already) carrying rubble from city to Turyatam.
This also shows the "reverse side of the medal", or simply (hard) life as it is here.