by photographer Rena Effendi
FiftyCrows International Fund for Documentary Photography
2004 Central Asia and the Caucasus competition
Category 1: Regional Winner

Image of ©2004 Rena Effendi

Photographer's Statement
In its thirteenth year of independence, oil-rich Azerbaijan finds itself at a crossroads of globalization, massive urban restructuring, and the struggle of indigenous identities to survive rapid social change.  Literally central to the capital city of Baku lies mahalla, (from the Arabic word for district or neighborhood) a poor but culturally vital neighborhood that has long been a bastion of the City’s identity. Now, mahalla faces literal demolishing at the hands of an oil-wealth construction boom. The life-long residents of this mahalla—poets, pigeon-keepers, mullahs, ex-cons—and their small-trade businesses are being systematically displaced with no guarantee of relocation or social reintegration.  Ancient courtyards, homes, and historical architecture are being lost to high-rise apartments. Spurred by media and government neglect, Rena Effendi raises urgent concerns about this urbanization in her essay "Mahalla: Faces of Change". Her frank portraits of mahalla dwellers seeks to illuminate and raise public awareness for the irreplaceable value of this traditional Baku community, as well as to interrogate the unregulated and greed-driven upheavals that could eventually reduce mahalla to dust.

Photographer’s website
http://www.refendi.com