In one of the more imaginative expressions of political commentary in Ukraine, an artist has reconfigured a statue of Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin in the image of Darth Vader, the iconic anti-hero at the center of the Star Wars universe.
Sculptor Alexander Milov’s Vader statute preserves Lenin’s iconic pose: the left hand clenched into a fist, resting next to his chest. He lengthened Lenin’s coat and transformed it into Darth Vader’s cape — which is rumored to be laser-proof. At the statue’s inauguration ceremony on Friday, actors dressed as storm troopers were also in attendance.
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The facelift, of sorts, also includes a tech upgrade: The Darth Vader head will emit a Wi-Fi signal from its helmet.
Ukraine split with the Soviet Union after its collapse in 1991, but monuments to Lenin still remained scattered across the country. During the protests in 2013 against the government of Russian-backed President Viktor Yanukovych, demonstrators defaced and destroyed Lenin statutes in Kiev, the capital.
After Yanukovych was deposed in February, 2014, Ukrainians began tearing down Soviet propaganda in an ad-hoc fashion across the country. In April, the Ukrainian government officially banned public displays of Communist propaganda — a move that has forced cities to replace hundreds of statues of Communist leaders, and rename streets that were named after Communist heroes.
The creative transformation from Lenin to Vader will allow the statue to remain where it stands, on the grounds of a factory in the Black Sea port city of Odessa.
“The bronze Lenin was left inside, so that the grateful or not-so-grateful descendants could exhume him, if needed,” Milov told Ukraine Today. Milov’s works are not limited to Ukraine; he created the “Love” piece featured at the Burning Man festival in Nevada this past summer.
