Signs of transformative change?

Rene Burri said that he knew that photojournalism as we knew it was dead when in the early 70s, he returned to his hotel from an assignment, sat down and was about to post his rolls of film to his editor when he turned on the TV and saw life images already on TV of the event he was covering…

Well, Kiev is changing fast as well… I discovered yesterday that I could now get my favourite protein bars at the gym in Kiev, which previously I could only get in London or Frankfurt… A clear sign that Kiev has safely arrived in the West… :-)

Joking aside, it has been 9 months since I walked around the underpasses underneath Independence Square and one obvious change I have noticed yesterday when I returned to the place, is that most of the greenish walls are now adorning ads of mobile phone companies or travel providers… Some of the characters (flower sellers, beggars, nuts and bolts sellers, etc.) are still there however which makes them even more out of place. So I am beginning to focus on the transformative forces, signs of changes and the clash of the old versus the new Ukraine.

Am I on to something or is this a false epiphany? Just an old lady selling cigarettes in front of a billboard or a sign of change? Just an old lady begging in front of a mobile phone company ad or a sad metaphor for the fact that some poorer people will certainly loose out in the new Ukraine of the capitalists?