Mehelle Archives - Ajam Media Collective

We Apologize for the Temporary Inconvenience: Capturing Baku’s Not-so-Ephemeral Public Banners

July 18, 2017
by Rustin Zarkar
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In order to mask the unsightly building process, Baku City Hall has placed banners on the fences and barriers that run along the construction sites. “We Apologize for the Temporary Inconvenience” highlights the imposed artificiality displacing the actual image of the city.

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Exploring Yerevan’s Oldest Neighborhood: History and Ethics of Heritage Preservation in Kond

The following is written by Karine Vann, a freelance journalist based in Brooklyn. She received her Master of Studies in Musicology from Jesus College, University of Oxford in 2014, where…

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New Beginnings in the Face of Demolition: Baku’s Sovetski Celebrates a Final Novruz

3 minute read

Baku’s Ruin Economy: Finding Value in Abandoned Sovetski

4 minute read

Things Left Behind: Family Photos from Sovestki

1 minute read

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Mehelle

“Beauty All Over My Skin:” Music in the Alleys of Sovetski

November 17, 2016
by Ajam Media Collective
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In late 2013, filmmaker Vincent Moon visited Azerbaijan to create a documentary about the country’s traditional music, the places that gave birth to it, and the culture surrounding it. After…

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Ajam’s Mehelle: Recording Everyday Life in Endangered Neighborhoods

October 10, 2016
by Rustin Zarkar
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Ajam Media Collective has created Mehelle— a new project dedicated to preserving the sights, sounds, and memories of rapidly-changing neighborhoods from Eastern Anatolia to Central Asia. It will serve as a multimedia resource for local inhabitants, community organizers, and urban researchers long after such neighborhoods have been demolished, gentrified, or transformed by private and state-led construction projects.

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