Kyiv, June 2017

that time of year:)

Skopje (Macedonia), April 2018. Back on the mini-bus south. A bulbous Macedonian Orthodox cathedral. High tacky government building–a panic room inside with a week's worth of provisions for the country's paranoid ex-president. Macedonia Post's brutalist HQ. Me! More statues–lion with pistol on the pedestal. The view from by the fortress looking north to the Sharr Mountains.

Pristina (Kosovo), April 2018. The old Turkish quarter. Ottoman-era mosques in the process of being renovated with Turkish funds (and according to Turkish designs–a qualm for locals). Cigarettes at the market. Drive-through bazaar. An Islamic book store. The main plaza–cherry blossoms and busy. An abandoned Serbian Orthodox church–built in 1998 during the pre-war, in the most severe days of Serbian rule. A cemented symbol of Serbian dominance. Now sits abandoned–too sensitive to tear down (or convert to an art space), too charged to let operate (the neighbours don't want the 'eyesore' in their quarter).

Mitrovica (Kosovo), April 2018. The Albanian side. A Kosovar cop car once you enter the southern sector. A Malala mural (or her quote with Rita Ora depicted??). Monument to an Albanian solider. A new mosque built by the Turkish government. A wedding in the distance–Albanian flags in tow. Yugoslav era bus station.

Mitrovica (Kosovo), April 2018. The border between the two sides. Mid-point on the street.: A row of Serbian flags in the distance to the left. Albanian flags (and a German flag) in the distance to the right. Cars without license plates: Serbs who don't recognise the Kosovar state. A Serbian election placard. Storefronts with signage in Albanian text (Zara resales!).

Mitrovica (Kosovo), April 2018. The Serbian side. A view of over the city. The Miner's monument looming. Hard dogs (dobermans?) in backyards. A Serbian flag, a Russian flag. Lunch in the short Bosnian quarter. Scrawled "Jovana: I love you."

Mitrovica (Kosovo), April 2018. Mid-day call to prayer blasted from a Turkish mosque on the south bank, Albanian-side. On the north bank: a mix of car and truck horns from the Serb side: wedding celebrations.

Mitrovica (Kosovo), April 2018. Entering Mitrovica, small city bisected by the Ibar: Albanian on the south bank–heavily damaged in the 1999 conflict and rebuilt with remittances from Kosovars abroad; Serb on the north: undamaged and overgrown. New Mitrovica: street ATMs, a KFC, black-carpeted cafés spill on to the sidewalk. The "Pedestrian zone": a mile-long strip refurbished with EU funding that runs through both sides–over a bridge with bike lanes as its centre-piece. On the Serbian bank: a monument to Serbs who died in the conflict; an Italian carabineri patrol vehicle parked adjacent–EULEX/NATO force that patrols the northern half of the city. On the Serb side: more flags, older apartment blocks, a new church on the hill overlooking the city. Behind: a brutalist monument to deceased coal miners, now neglected and slightly hidden by the brush.

Grachanitsa (Kosovo), April 2018. Orthodox Easter Sunday on the road to Grachanitsa, the Serbian Orthodox enclave in which a monastery is located. Leaving by bus Pristina, California-style suburban sprawl, home improvement warehouses, roadside restaurants, dusty from new builds. Ten minutes later: fields and older homesteads of the enclave. MISSING in block letters at the town entrance–a pointed monument dedicated to Serbs who died during the 1999 war. A pedestrian bridge painted in the Serbian tri-colour. Busy Easter within the church courtyard. A Canadian easter egg for me. Nuns in Serbian habit wandering about. Fourteenth century frescos–no photos. Outside, a gaudy Serbian monument–sword raised, facing Pristina. A placard outside: Greek funding for monastery renovations.

Pristina (Kosovo), April 2018. Passport stamp, crossing into Kosovo. Pillars for a new expressway tower over a dusty valley–a project that reaches a hard end at the Macedonian border. Construction aplenty in Prishtina. New condos, new cars, new clothes. Youth, youth, youth. A towering, fading to sepia of Bill Clinton above an ad for paprika crisps. Yugoslav era apartment blocks remixed and jumbled with new stores, new cafés, luxury vehicles on the sidewalks. A few Yugoslav era concrete structures–a concert hall, a library–here and there. Grubby skies make for a pleasant sunset. Rita Ora lounge bar? Open mic night at Honey's. So many selfies!

Skopje (Macedonia), April 2018. In the same quarter brutalist national opera, an empty brown field strewn with garbage, a full monument to the nine Greek muses outside the Foreign Ministry. At the square, monuments to: a young Alexander-well-muscled and golden, the country's partisan leaders of WWII. On to Kosovo...

Skopje (Macedonia), April 2018. The creek separating the 'Macedonian' side of the city–Slavic speaking, Orthodox Christian–from the old Turkish quarter and Albanian suburbs. Hyper neo-classical government buildings on the 'waterfront'. A new circular temple (tholos?) devoted to Eros. A monument to motherhood. On the other side: The old Turkish quarter, a full bazaar. A socialist-era multi-storey repurposed as a dining hub: Versace bar.

Macedonia, April 2018. Early morning walk in Skopje's spread out inner suburbs. Horse and carriage as recycling service. Early glimpses of Skopje's gaudy 2014 makeover. A sui generis vernacular: Macedonian hyper neo-classical. Dozens of statues–a wikipedia list of ancient 'Greek' figures now repurposed as Macedonian. In the courtyard of the city's brutalist, Yugoslav era philharmonic: a new Macedonian Orthodox cathedral under construction, a shrine (with gift store) for Mother Theresa. Central square: Kazakhstan? Las Vegas. A 28-meter statue to Alexander the Great. Justinian on the waterfront.