Yannis Kontos: Red Utopia

Yannis Kontos: Red Utopia (Digital Journalist, April 2007). "...The images of Yannis Kontos testify to the effects of a totalitarian government on a population and nation frozen in time. Uniforms are everywhere (apparently 20 percent of the men aged 17–54 are in the armed forces). The human spirit does come through in a few images but beautiful traditional gowns worn for tourists, garish propaganda posters and art contrast sharply with the large gray buildings, wide gray squares and gray streets. Looming over all are statues, images – even required portrait pins – showing The Great Leader. Paintings of Kim Jong-Il now join those of his father. In Pyongyang, the capital, in particular, mammoth monuments to Kim Jong-Il and the Workers' Party overwhelm the landscape."