Street art | Varlam Shalamov

In 2015, the GULAG History Museum, Russkaya Platina Сompany and famous street artist Zoom created a graffiti portrait of a Russian writer, poet and GULAG survivor Varlam Shalamov on the wall of the building № 9 on the 4^th Samotyochny lane.

Shalamov spent much of the period from 1937 to 1951 imprisoned in forced-labor camps in the Arctic region of Kolyma. In 1946, near death, he became a medical assistant while still a prisoner. He remained in that role for the duration of his sentence, then for another two years after being released, until 1953.

From 1954 to 1978, he wrote a set of short stories about his experiences in the labor camps, which were collected and published in six volumes, collectively known as Kolyma Tales.

The Kolyma Tales are considered Shalamov's masterpiece, and "the definitive chronicle" of life in the labor camps. A writer's stylized portrait is shown through the text of one of his tales as if it was typed right on the wall.