Artist

Radek Skrivanek presents a haunting, stark, and gorgeously executed portrait of the dying Aral Sea in Central Asia. His documentary project explores the legacy of the former Soviet regime and its destructive impact on the environment, focusing specifically on this region. His stark black and white photos echo the landscape, and hollowness of spirit reflected in the physical reality of this area.

He writes, “The demise of the Aral Sea over the past four decades is more than another ecological disaster…Due to decades of aggressive irrigation for agriculture, the Aral Sea (formerly the fourth largest lake in the world) is likely to disappear from the map in the near future. The countries of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, and Kyrgyzstan, which share its watershed and basin, are greatly impacted by this ecological shift. Those inhabiting the areas of this ecological disaster have had their lives, livelihoods, and health adversely affected.”