Mongolia is a country divided by
two kinds of people. There are those who retain a traditional nomadic lifestyle
and those who strive for a more modern life. Photographer Michele Palazzi’sBlack Gold Hotel is a long term project about the
impact of modernization in Mongolia.
In the last
few years, Mongolia has experienced a boom in their economy, thanks to the
large mining industry. The country is now developing at an extremely rapid
pace. Because of this accelerated (and deregulated) development, local populations
and traditional ways of life—based on ancestral, nomadic herding—are undergoing
a crisis. Many families have left behind long-held traditions in the
countryside, for the promise of riches that the cities hold.
Upon first
reading about Mongolia’s rapidly developing economy, “I realized that the
Mongolian nomads I had always dreamed of were probably going to disappear quite
soon. I wanted to see my subjects through my lens of nostalgia but also to try
and understand what their “modern” lives were like presently,” he says in a recent interview.
Palazzi’s
long term project has brought him all over the vast country of Mongolia. Here,
he tells the stories of the families in the Gobi desert that chose to continue
their traditions despite all the difficulties. He also bears witness to the
young people in Ulaanbaatar, the countries capital, that live in a way more and
more similar to their Western peers. The truth of the matter, he discovered, is
the people that abandoned nomadic life hoping to find happiness in a more urban
lifestyle, ended up being trapped in-between.
All images © Michele Palazzi
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