The Story Maps presented here are related to the interactive Map of Soviet Samizdat Periodicals. Just as there are many different topics and communities represented within Soviet Samizdat Periodicals, so we find varied stories to tell. Story Maps provide an opportunity to use visual materials to help introduce selected topics and sets of materials to new audiences. If the Illustrated Timelines use chronology as a framework for asking how we tell the story of Soviet dissident activity, the Story Maps foreground geography, asking how locations within the Soviet Union influenced activity, and exploring some of the ways developments in the USSR were oriented to international trends and translated for foreign audiences. Of course, location matters for events in the chronology just as location in time is no less important than location in space for the stories told here.
The Story Maps "Samizdat Art Periodicals" and "Nikonova and Segay" came out of research work conducted by Margaryta Golovchenko in 2017-2018, supported by an undergraduate research fellowship from Victoria College’s Northrop Frye Centre and a University of Toronto Excellence Award for Summer Research.
The Story Maps provide encapsulated introductions to the topics covered. They are followed by followed by Selected Bibliographies for further reading.
Story about Samizdat Art Periodicals
Soviet nonconformist artists sought to reach an audience with art works that resisted the constraints of official Soviet Socialist Realism. This is the story of how artists in various cities created journals and other editions to publicize their work.
Story about Nikonova and Segay
Artists Rea Nikonova and Serge Segay produced highly original new avant-garde works from the 1960s and well into the post-Soviet era. Remarkably, they did this while living in provincial cities like Yeysk and Sverdlovsk. This is their story.