Beneath the Ancient Silk Road, the Soviet Union and the Taiga: Setting focus on Uzbekistan's many hidden treasures and identities is the key to @hassankurbanbaev zeitgeisty photography.

Concerning your work: What is your favorite picture you took so far? And why?

Probably that one I did not show anyone, it is someone’s house covered by sunset. On an emotional level it reminds me my childhood memories.

How is life in Taschkent at the moment - do you feel the repercussions of Covid-19?

We had two total lockdowns in spring and summer. It is slowly getting better now and life is coming back to a rhythm. Hoping you are okay wherever you are!

What inspires you the most at the moment?

Work and hope of future travels.

How did you get into photography? What is your work about - what is your message?

My past and future series are connected with the questions of who we are as a nation and what is Uzbekistan today. For me this is an essential question - I try to understand the space and moment and who I am, including. Taking as a basis my favorite, programmed motto of the state “Uzbekistan - a country with a great past and a great future”.

Me, like everyone here, are concerned about what is exactly in the middle - in the present.

My country is unfamiliar to the world, it looks like a kind of dark spot on the map, and the few who have heard about Uzbekistan most likely know something about the ancient cities, the Silk Road, but most likely that we were part of the Soviet Union (1925 - 1991). The country itself, from the inside, may not be understandable to us either, since until recently we did not speak openly, critically about ourselves.

Tell us more about your homeland, please.

In fact, Uzbekistan is a third world country that has become entangled in its past and certainly does not know what the future holds for us. But does this not provide an opportunity for analysis and observation? I guess, this is the perfect time to reflect and engage in visual exploration of this “now.”

I do it in the most primitive way - through the symbols of everyday life. In my ongoing series “Logomania: owning the world at half price”, I objectify the local obsession and borrowing of luxury; the influence of the West and the East, primarily mass culture, fashion and religion, which is most often manifested in blind copying. This absurd and, in my opinion, unique in its naivety, ceremonial beauty is that modernity in which the country exists. This is a transitional period that will later take on a different form, which is now difficult to imagine.

What would you like to achieve – what are you hopes and dreams for yourself?

My dreams are connected to the possibility to work independently in my country and in the Central Asian region, telling the stories from there and meeting new people. Revealing something that will help to understand my own identity as the citizen of contemporary Uzbekistan.

What does a day look like in the life of Hassan Kurbanbaev?

Right now I am spending half of the week with my father and the other half of the week at my friends house Misha Kuzhel - together we are working on current projects.

The future is…

The future is hopefully in hands of good people with good ideas and intentions.