Most of us in western Europe are guilty of taking our fuel for granted, but our thirst for oil leaves a trail of corruption, environmental degradation and poverty elsewhere. Azerbaijani photographer Rena Effendi followed the Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan pipeline through her own country, Georgia and Turkey to document its effect on the communities she found. The result is her book Pipe Dreams, which has been on my wish-list for a while.
“My purpose was to tell a human story about families living on $50 (£31) a month above a pipeline that is carrying almost $100 million a day. A lot of people who see all this energy going to the West have not had gas supplies in their own homes for decades,” she has said.
Now, Foto8 have published an audio slideshow where Rena explains the context of this important work. It’s not going to win any multimedia prizes, but the photography is stunning and it contains some hauntingly beautiful Russian folk music. I find it difficult to forgive the use of James Blunt’s “Beautiful” but grit your teeth through that bit because our love affair with oil needs confronting.
Related posts:
Fascinating! I wanted to see and learn more about every chapter. There’s certainly plenty to photograh and report there- but how many PJ’s have rushed on over? Contrast this nuanced, well researched and visually captivating documentary with the slam bam, dead body approach now ongoing.
I also really love the fact that it’s her ‘own’ story – something personal to her that affects her own country. It’s nice to shoot in foreign countries but i think there’s something to be said for looking in one’s own backyard