Meador, Clifton: Crossing the Oxus A book about the drying up of the Aral Sea in Uzbekistan. The Aral Sea was once the fourth
largest body of fresh water on the planet. No longer.
“This cautionary tale, told in photographs and Meador’s sensitive but incensed text, recounts
the plight of the Oxus River, which “in classical times … was the boundary of the known
world.” Soviet mega-planners determined that Uzbekistan would be the cotton producer of their
empire and that the Oxus River (now called the Amu Darya) would be diverted for vast irrigation
projects. When Meador crossed the river in the year 2000, it a “vanished river” — victim of
“one of the largest and most horrifying ecological disasters in the world.”— Bill Stewart en., offset lithography in 3 colors, sewn, 24p, 7 x 11 inch, Ed. of 75, Vilas NC, 2001, Studio of Exhaustion Request of availability backnext