The Aral Sea

Illustrations to​​​​​​​ the interview of ecologist Yusup Kamalov about the Union for Saving the Aral Sea and work in NGOs in Hook media.

The original article can be read here.  

Hook is an independent media in Uzbekistan.

All illustrations are made in collage technique with Midjourney and edited in Photoshop.

Yusup Kamalov has been working to save the Aral Sea for over thirty years, and in addition to this, he has a passion for hang gliding. In the article, Yusup also shares about the repressions his family faced during his childhood.

«My mother became a journalist and often recalled how she was summoned to the KGB and interrogated almost every night. One night, after one of these interrogations, as she was nearly home, she suddenly heard me crying. She ran toward the sound, but a passing car’s headlights blinded her, and she struck her chest against a bridge».

«The western shore recedes by 100 meters every year. In the past—for instance, in 2013—when you stood on the Ustyurt Plateau and looked toward the sea, neither the southern nor the eastern shore was visible. Now, both shores can be seen. The Aral is gone».

«It is essential to restore the forests—that’s the most important thing. Another priority is to develop a cotton variety that consumes less water. If you manage to reduce water losses by even half, the Aral will begin to refill. Not instantly, of course, but our goal is not just to fill the Aral—it’s to bring life back to the Amu Darya delta, where all the forests and lakes have disappeared».

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