Upon disembarking in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan’s marble-clad capital, photographer Ikuru Kuwajima couldn’t help making comparisons to Astana, the capital of another resource-rich Central Asian nation. “I was mesmerized by the vast districts of marble-coated white buildings and some bizarre futuristic tall buildings springing up around the center of the city.”
“It was like Astana, the new capital of oil-rich Kazakhstan, in its artificialness,” Kuwajima added. “But, Ashgabat is larger, making me wonder if Ashgabat actually inspired the Kazakh capital, or vice versa.”
Kuwajima, a Japanese national based in Almaty, proceeded to cross Turkmenistan with his panoramic, 35mm-film camera last fall and brought back these images, along with a few vignettes for EurasiaNet.org.
“At the ‘Door to Hell,’ a famous spot for the curious, [situated] in north-central Turkmenistan, near Derweze, a big hole in the middle of the desert has been burning for over 40 years. The Soviet government sent scientists looking for gas in that area, but there was an explosion in the early 1970s; it has been burning with leaking gas ever since. Night in the desert is already cold in October, but it was warm near the hole.”
Near Mary, the country’s second city, lies the ancient city of Merv, an important stop for Silk Road travelers: “The desolate overgrown remains, which looked more like a grassy hill, were rather sad, as the town didn’t hold onto so much of its past prosperity.”
“Back in Ashgabat, after stopping by the huge mausoleum complex for the former president – Saparmurat Niyazov, the Turkmenbashi, or “father of the Turkmen” – I headed westward, stopping by Nokhur, a rural settlement. From Nokhur, I crossed the desert further westward to the Caspian port of Turkmenbashi (Krasnovodsk during the Soviet era). In the old port town, I walked around a new seaside park, which was glittering with fountains and a golden statue of the former president. He shows up often around Turkmenistan.”
“From there, the road to the Kazakhstan border was rugged, windy and empty. Occasionally the Caspian came into view on the left. This is a region of abandoned-looking villages. Dust whirls up on the plateau and, in one brief break, exposed an unexpected site: Propped atop a mound of dirt some 80 meters off the road sits a rusting jet airplane.”
Ikuru Kuwajima is a freelance photojournalist based in Almaty.
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