The Home, The Field and The Flux
“The Home, The Field and The Flux” series explores three agricultural communities across Uzbekistan. The Tashkent region, close to the country’s capital, mostly attracts people from distant regions as seasonal workers, since locals are reluctant to pick cotton. To the Forish district, in central Uzbekistan, people from across the country come as well; here they rent fields to plant not cotton but watermelons, melons, peanuts, tomatoes, seeds, and other crops. In the Republic of Karakalpakstan, where the infamous shrinking of the Aral Sea took place and water issues still, cotton picking continues nevertheless. In the series’ centre, above the economic realities and dreamy imagery of the shots, are workers’ communities and lifestyle. There is a gender division of labour in the fields that persists yet sometimes breaks, physically demanding work and joyful leisure time, an aspiration to create a feeling of home in the modest temporary houses. For centuries, locals have found their ways to unite amidst the mostly dry lands of steppe to develop systems of storing and distributing water. Later, in the times of the Russian Empire and USSR, this coming together was imposed in the name of the empires’ economic interests. One example of colonial policies is found in Kamila Rustabekova’s family history. Her grandmother, a low-ranked Soviet official, was groundlessly accused in the ‘cotton case’ and made redundant afterwards. In this highly-publicized scandal of financial mismanagement, over 4,000 people were convicted because of the enormous pressure to meet the ever-increasing quotas for cotton production. The ‘cotton case’ was just one of the empire’s efforts to benefit from the colony’s resources. Now, in independent Uzbekistan, more opportunities for the country’s citizens are available. Thus the story of Kamila’s uncle, who owns a set of fields and rents them to local farmers. At the same time, in the cotton industry, the state continues to exert pressure on farmers and officials, claim the activists. Documenting stark realities of labour while getting to know the workers personally, “The Home, The Field and The Flux” series resists both the glossy official imagery and Western orientalist misconceptions about Uzbekistan. Kamila captures the locals’ bond in its variety and warmth—and yet so fragile amidst the ever-globalizing economy and the climate crisis.