Anush Babajanyan, The Aral Sea and the Battered Waters of Central Asia

There was a time when the Aral Sea was the fourth largest inland body of water in the world; today, due to Soviet irrigation projects, it has shrunk by over 90 percent. In her series, the Armenian photographer (born 1983) documents not only the environmental crisis, but also reveals how communities in Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan have adapted in order to survive. They breed camels, harvest brine shrimps, keep bees, and fish in the northern part of the Aral Sea, revitalised following the construction of the Kokaral Dam.