A Glimpse of the Past Circa 1982

Taraz airport

One of our collaborators, Mariya Mikhaylichenko loaned us this wonderful postcard book of of Taraz. In this book there are many wonderful photographs depicting the city during the early 1980's.  

Children were one of the many underlying themes to the Soviet Union

This is a wonderful hand drawn map of Kazakhstan with the city of Taraz in relation to Alma-Ata (Almaty)

 Much has happened here in Kazakhstan since these photographs were printed. A lot of these place still exist but are being used for different purposes or have fallen into disuse.

Movie theater

It's interesting to see that much of the architecture has changed dramatically to suit people's needs after privatization. 

Looking North in the City Center

Looking South in the City Center

Growing beyond Taiwan

On Sunday, our collaborator Temirlan invited us to visit one of the most special things for him in the city. Temirlan lives in a neighborhood at the southwestern edge of the city of Taraz that locals call “Taiwan” or  “Taivan”. Taivan received its informal name because of its location and character of settlement: at the time of its establishment in the 1950s and 1960s, it was one of the newest neighborhoods where private construction was allowed. Located to the south of the territory planned to become microrayons or microregions built out by the state to accommodate workers of the rapidly growing city, Taivan hosted people who were able to build in the interstices and edges of the planned economy. While the Soviet ideology disapproved of private property, including housing, and instead sought to provide public housing in return for productive employment in the socialist economy, in practice it condoned and overlooked private construction. Temirlan’s grandparents were forcefully relocated to the city in the 1940s by Josef Stalin’s campaign of repression and deportation of targeted ethnic groups. The family found a refuge in the neighborhood of Taivan where Temirlan’s father was born and raised. The neighborhood also hosted other ethnicities such as Germans who had earlier been similarly relocated by the Soviet regime. In the late 1980s and early 1990s, representatives of these groups began to move back to their historic motherlands and Kazakh families began moving in to their houses.

“There was nothing here but one big swamp” said Temirlan pointing to the rows of houses surrounded by fruit trees and different color metal fences as we passed them. Over time, the authorities diverted the river feeding into the swamp, and the land became inhabitable. It was difficult for us to imagine the emptiness behind the densely packed wall of houses.

As we crossed the edge of the city, Temirlan mused: “Over his lifetime, my father has seen this former swamp  grow into a lively neighborhood, and now I am witnessing the city spill out beyond its southwestern border.” Indeed, we saw vibrant construction of brown-grey cement walls and cars leaving trails of dust as they transported materials. Workers with shirts wrapped around their heads and faces moved to unload bricks. 

This outgrowth of the city was changing the landscape the way Temirlan came to know and love it. He pointed to our destination, a half-built automobile overpass ahead of us. The project was initiated in the Soviet period but then dropped after the collapse of socialism. Temirlan discovered it with friends a few years ago and made a habit of coming here and meditating, especially in the evenings. The overpass provided a beautiful vista that combined the view of the city and the steppe reaching into a mountain range.

Now that the city was booming and the roads were renovated, the authorities were rekindling the project of building an expressway around the city. “In a few years, this bridge will be fully operating; it will become the terrain of cars and out of reach of people like ourselves.” We asked Temirlan if he was sad about these changes and the thought of losing this special place. To our surprise he said that he wasn’t, he was excited about being part of this development and change. Like his father who observed the growth of Taivan, Temirlan was looking forward to witnessing the further growth of the city.

Small Streets and Large Streets

We have been poring over images of the city as well as looking at maps, using Google Earth to get a greater sense of the way this city of Taraz is organized and perhaps developed over the many years (thousands) that it has existed. Destroyed by invading armies and rebuilt time and time again, you see the city for what it is and perhaps what it was by walking.

Fruit trees and Houses. Every street is full of fruit trees. 

At first look you see that the city itself is comprised of many large tree lined streets and avenues that are well organized. Behind many of these large streets are smaller lanes and alleys that seem much older than these larger streets. Here you find bumpy, dusty roads and an occasional paved road some no more narrow than a car or some even much too small for a car to pass.

These smaller roads lead you into crossing directions that remind you that this city was built many years before the car. Here you can find old houses, fruit trees dropping their fruit, and the new rich are building multiple storied houses. Some of the most grand buildings can be seen in these little lanes next to some of the most beautiful old buildings. Large gates and walls are built in front of these "new rich" houses to tell you that there is money here but don't come in!

A friend told me once that in the old days there were very few gates and walls in the city of Taraz. When the fall of the Soviet Union happened the walls came.

In some of these neighborhoods you can see Uzbek houses and neighborhoods known as Mahala. Here you see an occasional Mosque and if you listen at the right time of day you can hear the call to prayer.

A Soviet Apartment (Kruschovki) and a small market advertising the sale of tap beer

Taraz is a multi-cultural city. Kazakhs are the biggest population but there are many different families that have been here for centuries and call this city home.

Tajik Nan Bread (lepeshka) Made in Taraz, Kazakhstan

Zhambylski Tajik bread lovingly made into unique shapes, various degrees of flavor and textures for the table.

Zhambyl is a region of many families comprised from different cultures. The evidence of the many cultures can be seen in the nan/lepeshka bread cooked in tandor ovens. Here you can find nan from many different regions of Central Aisa as well as other breads from Europe and other regions of Asia. In photographs, nan bread can look similar but to the touch and taste they are very different. Perhaps the city of Taraz may have the best of these breads in Kazakhstan.

Childhood Memories as Therapy

Another highlight of the meeting was an unexpected visit from Munira Kuspanovna Temirgalieva, a notable member of the Taraz intelligentsia. She said that she heard about our project from a friend and decided to pay a visit herself. Although an advanced scholar of economics, she has been lately engaged in the study of akmeology, a subset of psychology that studies phenomenology and the development of adult 'maturity' proposed by Russian scholar N.Rybnikov. One of the tenets of this field is the use of childhood memories as a prophylactic against afflictions such as depression, oncological diseases and others.

Munira Kuspanovna generously shared a childhood memory that has been with her throughout her life. Because she was born premature, she was growing up as a sickly kid, and her parents frequently tried to arrange little treats for her. Once her father took her on a boat ride along the Volga river in the city of Ulyanovsk where they lived for a brief period of time. They decided to stop by one of the islands in the middle of the river. Suddenly, Munira Kuspanovna remembered, she saw her mother walking towards from another side of the island. It was the most wonderful, the most magical moment of her life. Her parents must have talked to each other and arranged this meeting, but for little Munira this was sheer surprise. Seeing her mother in this place and in this moment was the brightest experience that to this day fuels Munira Kuspanovna's life. Whether she's going through a happy or sad period of her life, the memory of her mother appearing in this way and joining them keeps her going and loving life. Her utmost desire, Munira Kuspanovna said, is to provide the same kind of experiences for her children and her grandchildren.

Reconstructing the Past

During our weekly project meeting today, we further discussed ideas for contributions to the project. Gulnara said that she's gone through all the old photography albums in her family, and this recourse into the past gave her many ideas. She grew up in the neighborhood adjacent to the railroad station and comes from a family of people all connected to railroad. As the novels written by Central Asian writers such as Chingiz Aitmatov and Hamid Ismailov attest, railroad was one of the major ways in which modernization initiated by the Soviet regime took place. The Turksib (Turkestano-Sibirskaya Magistral') railroad was a major project that changed lives in Central Asia.

Gulnara brought a watercolor sketch of her grandfather who was the operator for a military train in the 1930s. We really loved the old steam train and the crowds of people. It's exciting to see the potential of how art brings to life the memories of childhood and family.

Bumper Cars and Artpology

This beautiful hand painted sign above follows the shape of the building, advertising to the amusement park visitors that there is a bumper car ring here. This sign is perhaps an often overlooked element of painstakingly hard work designed and painted in great detail with interchanging colors and consistent fonts. Are we losing this art form to vinyl printing and computers?  

The images of the daily life are collected by us to help understand the beauty of the world around us. We call this Artpology. By taking pictures we collect images of the space we see to take home and contemplate. By making a digital image of the hand painted sign we make art from art to rethink the value of a mundane and to appreciate the beauty of the everyday.