The collapse of the Soviet Union promised hope for the people of the Europe’s eastern states. While some got rich on oil and gas, vast swathes of the former communist block still live in abject poverty.
Called After The Thaw, an Oxfam exhibition, which starts next week at The Strand gallery in London, highlights the plight of the people of Armenia, Georgia, Tajikistan and Azerbaijan, showing scenes of economic hardship two decades after the fall of the Soviet tyranny.
“A lot of people don’t have a clue where countries such as Tajikistan are – they aren’t in the western consciousness and have been left behind,” said Oxfam spokesperson Lysbeth Holdaway.
The scenes include depictions of a woman struggling to light a fire, a young boy eating pasta and yoghurt and a family, half-starved, living in a ramshackle house, while young girl use a local herb to draw a “beautiful” monobrow on their foreheads.
The exhibition is on until Saturday 19 November.
View a selection of the pictures below: