Liquid Land
Thanks to the industrialization during the Soviet era and contamination from its oil industry, Azerbaijan has a number of the most seriously polluted sites in the world. On the Apsheron peninsula, which projects out into the Caspian Sea, the ground exudes a toxic vapour, while oil seeping to the surface makes the soil infertile. Rena Effendi conceived LIQUID LAND together with her father, a dissident entomologist who was able to collect 90,000 butterflies from the Soviet Union. Images of the colourful but dead creatures interact powerfully with those of Apsheron’s polluted soil.
