Stephen M. Bland 

Soviet-era ceremonial space

Centrepiece in the Museum of Victims of Political Repression shows martyrs being restrained by a Soviet banner or decapitated by the Red Star of Battle

On an obligatory field trip schoolgirls wear uniforms like milkmaids in mourning

A murder of crows circle the Yasaui Mausoleum

Zelyoni (Green) Bazaar at dawn

Zenkov Cathedral

Replica of the Golden Man, part of the Monument to Independence, Republika Alangy

Main Bazaar

President Nazarbayev photoshopped into a dream of the Aral Sea

The ghosts of sailors haunt a ship cemetery on the former Aral seabed

Boats lilting on the Small Aral Sea

Abandoned Barge rusting in the Small Aral Sea

A compound on the main drag in the village of Akbasty

Saviour of the Small Aral Sea