Despite once being the fourth largest city in the Soviet Union, Tashkent is rapidly departing from the Soviet architecture of the Cold War. The infrastructure of the capital has largely been repurposed or forgotten since Uzbekistan's vote for independence in 1991. Soviet modernism exists in patches in bygone cities, where oriental adornments sit beside cosmic structures of the forgotten era. Further west, beyond Samarkand and Bukhara, lay the remains of the Aral Sea in Moynaq - once the fourth largest lake in the world before Soviet irrigation projects devastated the surrounding communities. Between these cities, the Silk Road is dotted with futuristic town welcome signs which provide an intermittent reminder of the former Soviet presence and appear otherworldly in the otherwise sparse environments of the de-industrialised towns.

Uzbek Modern is a photo book and exhibition that reports on the state of fleeting Soviet architecture and its interface with the historical context of Central Asia.