The Language of Grief in Public Space: Practices of Creating “Spontaneous” Memorials in Modern Russia

Abstract

This article is an introduction to the issue’s special theme on “Ritualism in the Space of a Contemporary City”, by Daria Radchenko, and Andrey Zagorulko and Egor Krykov. Over the past few decades, a language has been formed for public symbolic expression of grief associated with resonant tragedies. This language assumes: the formation of special symbolically loaded memory places in the urban space; manipulation of colour schemes that have symbolic meaning; the use of a repertoire of individual and group commemorative actions. Such commemorative practices arose as predominantly spontaneous actions based on the initiative of individuals and small interest groups. However, in Russia there is a tendency for the state and its actors to appropriate such practices.