This market in Andijan is dominated by a shelter that is shaped to capture the gentlest of breezes on the hottest day, and to offer cool shade to the vendors within. This marketplace, as the economic and social hub of the city, presents a unique and simple architectural form in modern materials of steel and plastic that is both dynamic to look at and comfortable to be under.
For more than 2100 years the Silk Road has linked Asia to Europe through the Fergana Valley, a major source of silkworms. It is the leaves of the Mulberry tree that thrives in this valley, that feeds the worm that permits it to produce one kilometre of silk thread for its cocoon. Marghelan is a world centre for silk production, tie-dying, weaving and hooking. Using methods both traditional and modern, silk products are produced with traditional dye sources derived from rocks, plants and herbs; they are desired as high-quality, high-priced materials within world markets today. Smallholder farms dominate the Fergana Valley oasis. Each supplies fruits, vegetables, nuts, grains, dairy and meats to the local markets for sale. The food is sanitarily handled and offered pre-washed/pre- prepared to the buyer, thus permitting instant picnics and moveable feasts from one stall to the next. By purchase or barter the locals obtain Adidas clothing, Stanley tools, Delhi-produced building materials, Deere machinery, Daewoo cars, LG appliances and Nokia cell-phones.
Methods for tempering the hot sun in the public realm include natural screens of drought-resistant plants, bushes and trees. Here on the highway connecting Andijan to Marghelan (as elsewhere) is a springtime view of an arbour of table grapevines that will shade the public sidewalk to cool the environment by the early summer. Each smallholder farmer tends and harvests his section for either his personal use or for enhancing the family income; thus benefitting both himself and the public realm in a productive and natural way.
Ancient tribes in Central Asia produced pottery for storing, cooking and eating. Today, some ancestors form and turn the local red clay into objects of both utility and beauty. The firing kilns are unchanged from those used for over a millennia. This private kiln is in the courtyard of a master-ceramicist, a descendent from an original Steppe nomadic tribe. His works are supported, exhibited and sold at high prices in Sydney, Sao Paulo and Sevilla.
Here the master-ceramicist has created a thin plate of traditional design and pattern. An over-glaze is painted on a white background glaze in various shades of cobalt and green, mixed as in the past. Since the end of the soviet era descendents of the original valley tribes have actively participated in, and profited from, both international trade and increasing visitors to the valley. Locals ask only that people leave behind a small footprint as protection for the future of this earthly paradise.
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On Site review 21: stormy weather
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