"White road" -- the words offered to travelers throughout much of Central Asia as they embark upon a journey. American Ivan Sigal, 43, was bid "white road" countless times between 1998 and 2005, as he and his camera crisscrossed the steppe. He knew the region well, having worked for years to help design and establish local media outlets in the former Soviet Union and Afghanistan. Thousands of photos later, the result is an ambitious project of the same name, as black-and-white images from the Central Asian republics, Russia, and Afghanistan are coupled with a travelogue written in stream-of-consciousness style. The viewer finds scenes of joy, scenes of gloom, and the shades in between that make this presentation of the region, as least as far as Sigal is concerned, a metaphor "about living." (12 PHOTOS)
U.S. Photographer Travels The 'White Road'
1
A woman named Yelena (center) with friends and family in the Siberian town of Fomka, Russia, in 2003.
2
Murghab, Tajikistan (2003)
3
Fomka, Russia (2003)
4
Fomka, Russia (2003)
5
On the Yenisei River in Siberia (2003)
6
Aksu, Kazakhstan (2004)
7
Norilsk, Russia (2003)
8
Kabul, Afghanistan (2002)
9
Kabul, Afghanistan (2004)
10
Kabul, Afghanistan (2004)
11
A woman poses in Rozovka, Kazakhstan, in 2004.
12
Dushanbe, Tajikistan (1999)