A Little Local Flavour # 1 - Keleti Station, Budapest, Hungary

During the last ten years I've spent many an hour waiting to change trains in Budapest's cavernous Keleti station. Every time I'm in the station, the first place I head for is the platform with the Keleti chess players society. Without fail, there are always a number of intense games in progress, with the regulars eagerly engaged in matches against passengers while they wait for their trains. This goes on in the centre of the main hall of the station with noise, confusion and milling crowds all around them, yet it never seems to break their concentration. Most of the regular players are retirees who use the platform as their social meeting place, and they enjoy offering sage advice and commentary on the moves made by passengers as they play. A few years ago I had an hour to wait for a train to Pecs, so I agreed to play a game against one of the grizzled veterans. Predictably, I was thrashed in less than thirty minutes, despite the helpful advice of the onlookers. Have you ever noticed these players? Have a look the next time you are in the station, I'm sure they must be crowded around watching a match on the platform right now...

Remarkable Relics of Communism #2 - Bratislava, Slovakia

This mural is found in the main hall of the central train station in Bratislava; most passengers pass quickly beneath it on the way to the platforms and don't pause to glance up and see it on the wall above.
The mural contains many of the classic hallmarks of socialist thought. Looking from left to right, on the far left the viewer can see three 'capitalists' in their business suits being driven away by the moral superiority of the group standing to their left beneath the red banner of socialism with doves flying above their heads. One of the capitalists is dropping a gun to the ground, suggesting that their agression towards socialism will be defeated in the end. All of the capitalists are portrayed in cowardly poses which symbolize their eventual defeat. A worker from the capitalist system (dressed in white) is being freed from the chains of his masters so that he can come to join the group on the left. The group beneath the red banner has three dominant figures, a proud steel mill worker holding tools, an intellectual holding a book, and the flag bearer who stands above them providing the foundation for the development of the new society that labour and learning will develop together in partnership. The group standing in a circle at the centre of the mural is composed of women from different countries around the world, implying that socialism is the system that will unite the world in peace and unity. On the right-hand side the viewer can see the symbols of technology and learning that will make the socialist utopia possible; at the top we can see a rocket and a satellite (which looks like Sputnik) representing the scientific advances that socialism has produced ahead of the capitalist world. Below these we see the scientists who have produced these ideas, as well as the students learning from them who will develop the technologies of tomorrow.

Remarkable Relics of Communism #1 - Hunedoara, Romania

Over the years I've photographed many socialist-realist murals throughout the region. They are still commonly found in train and bus stations, schools and universities, museums and other public buildings. Some have been destroyed as modernisation processes have taken hold, and there is often little interest or care for them shown by the local citizens, so I think it's important to document these fascinating works of art before they disappear. This pair of photographs are of the murals found in the train station in Hunedoara, Romania. They face each other on opposite walls of the ticket hall. The first mural shows a group of workers in the steel mills, a hive of productive, purposeful activity. The three workers in the centre are all cooperating on a common goal, representing the socialist ideal. The second shows the workers enjoying the happy life they have built together, represented by a nature scene with a group enjoying a picnic. In the background it's possible to see the steel mills of Hunedoara with smoke rising from the chimneys, the source of the prosperity for those at play in the foreground. The train station building is also unique, it has a tall spire on the roof with a red star attached, representing the city's importance as a major hub of communist industry and production. Nowadays, most of the steel mills and factories have closed, but the train station murals remain as images of its former glory days.