Stories from the
Road
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! Convoy! ! ! ! !
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! Dry!sea!bed!
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! Yurts!outside!and!in!-!Uzbekistan!
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! Knitted!cotton!work!in!progress!(Juliet!Fowler5Smith)!at!Aral!Lake!! !
! Work!under!restoration!5!Uzbekistan!
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! Drivers!
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Lost: One vehicle became separated from the convoy and lost en route heading for the “ships graveyard�, ending up 200klms in the wrong direction. On board were two artists whose fervid ambition was to see the rusted out hulks of ships left stranded 7 hours drive from the present edge of the fast shrinking Aral Sea. Eventually, when the driver reoriented himself and got back on course, the fuel ran out. They were never to see the abandoned vessels. !
Nothing: There was nothing else to do. Crowded into a small 4 wheel drive, jolting over unpaved sandy roads through seemingly featureless dry flat sandy terrain, if it could be seen at all through the dust and sand, the artists relieved the tedium by playing “I spy�. Something starting with S, frequently met the eye. !
Yellow: Bounced and jostled for hundreds of kilometres, suffocated by dust and petrol fumes, they arrived at the Aral Sea. Eager to immerse themselves in the ambience of the environmental tragedy, and to bond with it physically, several of the artists rushed towards the receding water line, only to sink in deep mud. Onlookers were torn between staying safe and watching them sink, or rushing to their aid, and themselves being caught in the quicksand, as had happed to one or two who tried. Then a party of Muscovite tourists arrived, clad only in yellow bikinis, and seemingly weightless, they glided over the mud to play in the sea. The artists eventually extricated themselves. !
Dissipation: Somewhere in the flat monotonous landscape, improvised vocal harmonies amplified by a concrete roadside shelter, quickly dissipated to silence, while the artists waited. The lost documentary film crew were too far away to hear. The artists too close to nowhere to care. !
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! Dying!West!Aral!sea!
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! ! Tbilisi!
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! The!road!ahead,!behind!and!round!the!corner!!(Tbilisi)!
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! ! Bearings!–!Suzanne!Bartos!and!Juliet!Fowler<Smith!describe!“the!Road…”!(Samarkand)!