temirtau: audiovisual project

First produced for the Jaman Öner virtual exhibition in Almatı, this audiovisual project is a loveletter to my hometown Qarağandı. Temirtau is a town near my hometown that is a so-called coal-town, one of Soviet projects from the period when coal plant building was taking place across the entirety of the USSR. The project however takes place and critiques the present government’s continual exploitation, in capitalist terms, of the land previously exploited by Russian imperialism (Soviet Union’s policies included). The project focuses on a post-apocalyptic electronic sound mixed with dystopian visuals of the coal and steel plant, with my own pictures of the pollution and the consequences this has on my hometown’s residents. It also covers the hunger strike from December 2017 (strikes are ongoing at that facility though) due to consistent underpayment, labor injustices, and labor conditions that lead to avoidable accidents of tragic scale.

The video can be watched here.