A tale of two cities: Ryan Koopmans photographs the old and new capitals of Kazakhstan
14:55, 16 July 2016
ASTANA. KAZINFORM At the end of 1997, the Supreme Council of Kazakhstan ratified the decision to transfer the capital of the country from Almaty to Akmola, a smaller settlement on the northern steppe that took on the name Astana - "capital" in Kazakh. This represented a 1,000-odd kilometre shift from south to north: from the foothills of the looming Trans-Ili Alatau mountains to the dry plains of the central Kazakh desert; from a population of a million to one of a few hundred thousand; from established cultural preeminence to artistic tabula rasa, The Calvert Journal reports.
Amsterdam-born and raised in Vancouver, photographer Ryan Koopmans has worked in Kazakhstan’s old and new capitals at various points over the past four years, capturing the contrasts that define the country as it approaches its third decade of independence. His images of Astana convey the dizzying rate of construction that has made the city into something like a post-modern, Central Asian Brasilia. Enormous tower blocks and meticulous gardens assume almost nonsensical proportions — Koopmans says that he is “drawn to Kazakhstan’s open space and massive sense of visual scale,” and the country’s huge expanses of empty steppe provide endless canvas for further expansion in the windswept north.
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