Soviet Military Uniform

I called the mixture ‘ Вперед ! Труба зовет !’ - which is Russian for ‘Get up! The horn is calling!’ and is a motto of Soviet 40s’ pioneer organizations.

By blending playful circus costume with soviet military uniform I was trying to express the essence of communistic life in Russia of 1930s’ - 1940s. Russian people of the communistic period were living in constant frustration – they were often told lies and were tricked by the government. The reality was mostly different from what was told and the ideas and dreams that were propagandized have never been fulfilled. The environment of the communistic Russia was filled with cunning pretense and tragic fun, where half of the people were playing roles of hypocritical clowns and the other half was being fooled, occasionally switching places.

Uniforms were very common even in post-revolution Russia , as they helped to express the idea of equality of all people.

The main idea of military uniform is that it is highly functional. By mixing it with highly un-functional picturesque theatrical costume I achieved a desirable contradictory communication.

I explored the elements of military costume and applied them to circus costume arranging them in a playful way. And visa versa – applying elements of circus costume to a strict uniform.

Some of my drawings are featuring the elements of military costume that are restraining the movement of the body (like straight-jacket, belting that goes around the body, etc), suggesting the lack of personal freedom of the soviet man. The communistic philosophy is aiming to make people equal to each other in financial, educational and visual way. Even gender differences were implicit – in soviet art women were depicted in the same rough way as men and often were doing similar hard job. The freedom of individual expression wasn’t welcome.

I have made my illustrations in a traditional way – a hand-drawn line image edited in PhotoShop 6.0. The content of the illustrations is scenes from circus performance. My grotesque military uniforms are worn by rope-walker, animal trainer, illusionist and a clown. The colours are, appropriately to circus environment, bright and bold with a several hues of military green.

Alissa Stytsenko November 2003