NOTHING IS MORE PRECIOUS THAN...

Ho Chi Minh Monument

Moscow, Russia, 2016 - Leica M7, Summilux 35, Kodak Portra 160 * After his arrival in Moscow end 1923 HCM was trained as an agent of the Comintern. He studied the thoughts of Marx and Lenin as well as organizational and revolutionary techniques. Why do the many fabricated myths of Ho Chi Minh still endure in Vietnam? I waited for never-ending hours under the rain to get this shot in the small square outside Akademicheskaya metro station. In 1969 this small square was named Ploschad Kho Shi Mina (Ho Chi Minh Square) in honor of the Vietnamese communist leader who died in the same year on Sept. 2, 1969. In 1990 a monument was unveiled there which features a disc engraved with the face of Ho Chi Minh. In front of the disc is a statue of a Vietnamese fighter. The Russian Cyrillic inscription on the base of the statue reads "There Is Nothing More Valuable Than Freedom". The flying pigeons in the background and the colorful umbrella of these youngsters were true godsends.