In Kazakhstan, vestiges of the USSR saved from ruin

"The entire panel would need to be renovated ," explains Aiya Duiseyeva, pointing to a piece of "sgraffito," as these Soviet murals are called here, created by superimposing several layers of colored plaster. This one, titled Hunting and Fishing, perched above a climbing gym in downtown Almaty, Kazakhstan. The 25-year-old architect discovered the mural a few months ago. While the shapes of hunters and fishermen scratched into the plaster are still visible, some parts have eroded. Their colors are fading.

With her two architect friends from the Qalaba collective, Tomiris Ramazanova and Aqzharkyn Tleuberdy, the young woman launched a campaign in July to raise 7 million tenge (more than 11,000 euros) to restore this Soviet fresco, whose author and date of creation are unknown.

"The majority of people who frequent the neighborhood say they don't really see the point in repairing it," laments Aiya Duiseyeva. An indifference sometimes tinged with hostility, in the face of this Soviet legacy, a symbol of colonization in Central Asia. "In Kazakhstan, a lot of infrastructure was built during the Soviet era. But it's our heritage today, and we want to keep it and accept it for what it is." Aqzharkyn Tleuberdy believes.

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