Satyrus Effendi: Memorias de un padre, huellas de una guerra

Satyrus Effendi: Memorias de un padre, huellas de una guerra

El Satyrus effendi es una rara especie de mariposa nombrada en honor al entomólogo soviético-azerbaiyano Rustam Effendi, padre de la fotógrafa Rena Effendi. Durante su vida, Rustam Effendi reunió una cantidad incontable de mariposas, viajando entre Armenia y Azerbaiyán en busca de ejemplares raros y en peligro de extinción. Su muerte, en 1991, coincidió con el inicio de décadas de conflicto por la región de Nagorno-Karabakh.

 

 

<em>Satyrus effendi </em>is a rare and endangered butterfly species native to the mountainous and inhospitable terrain along the border between Azerbaijan and Armenia &ndash; two countries in the grip of a decades long conflict. The species was named in honor of the photographer&rsquo;s father, famed Soviet Azerbaijani entomologist Rustam Effendi.

Russian entomologist Dmitriy Morgun arranges local species of butterflies caught in the surrounding mountains. In 2017, near the village of Parağaçay, Morgun successfully collected <em>Satyrus effendi</em>, the elusive butterfly named after the photographer&rsquo;s father, Soviet entomologist Rustam Effendi. Morgun helped the photographer in her search for her father&rsquo;s butterfly. Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan.

 

 

La zona montañosa de Karabakh, situada en la frontera entre Armenia y Azerbaiyán, por donde su padre transitaba con libertad en sus expediciones, ha sido devastada por la guerra. El conflicto ha cobrado miles de vidas y ha desplazado a cientos de miles de personas.

 

 

<em>Acherontia atropos</em>, also known as death&rsquo;s-head hawkmoth, encased in a frame in Parkev Kazarian&rsquo;s home in Gyumri, Armenia. Kazarian recalled many trips with Rustam Effendi hunting butterflies in the Caucasus mountains. Every butterfly came with a story of a place, an adventure that led to its capture: &ldquo;You sit at home and it&rsquo;s cold outside, snowing and the dogs are howling. But then you look at the butterflies and the memories come flooding back and warm your heart.&rdquo; &ndash; Parkev Kazarian.&nbsp;

<em>Melanargia larissa</em>, the Balkan marble white butterfly, is a common species which can be found in Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan. Due to global warming, the grass burns faster in lower plains, and shepherds are forced to move their flocks higher into the mountains, thus degrading the mountain habitat and endangering populations of high altitude butterfly species, such as <em>Satyrus effendi</em>.

 

 

En este proyecto, Rena Effendi siguió los pasos de su padre, atravesando pueblos destruidos y paisajes desolados marcados por minas terrestres, en busca de la mariposa que habita en la frontera entre Armenia y Nakhchivan, un paisaje aislado por la guerra. Durante su recorrido, encontró personas de ambos lados del conflicto que la ayudaron, a pesar de la desconfianza entre las dos naciones enfrentadas.

 

 

Agdam, Azerbaijan. Once a city with a population of nearly 40,000, it was systematically dismantled during thirty years of occupation by Armenian forces. Rustam Effendi regularly passed through the city on his way to Armenia to hunt butterflies in the mountains of Zangezur. Reclaimed by Azerbaijan in 2020, the city is now being cleared of landmines.A Russian made &ldquo;Smerch&rdquo; rocket stuck in a field littered with anti-tank mines. Unlike Agdam and Kalbajar, which were returned to Azerbaijan without conflict, the district of Fizuli, Azerbaijan was fiercely contested in the Second Nagorno-Karabakh War in 2020.The mountains of Yeghegnadzor, Armenia, where Parkev Kazarian, friend and protégé of Rustam Effendi, tracked down <em>Satyrus effendi</em>, a rare butterfly native to the region named after the photographer&rsquo;s father.

The Murovdağ mountains, where Rustam Effendi hunted butterflies. This road is a mountain pass that leads to Kalbajar, Azerbaijan, a province occupied by Armenian forces in 1993 during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War. Thousands of Azerbaijani refugees fled the conflict through this pass on foot and many died along the way. In November 2020, the province was returned to Azerbaijan but the pass remains riddled with landmines.

 

 

El trabajo pone de relieve el impacto ecológico de los conflictos humanos, evidenciando los retos de conservación que enfrentan especies en peligro como el Satyrus effendi. La alteración de hábitats y la destrucción de ecosistemas amenazan su supervivencia, añadiendo otra capa de significado a la historia.

 

 

Parkev Kazarian&rsquo;s taxidermy tools and butterfly mounting board, with moths, in Gyumri, Armenia. Rustam Effendi used similar tools and passed on his knowledge to Kazarian, who was two decades his junior.

 

 

El viaje de Rena Effendi entrelaza la memoria personal e historia política, una exploración de la identidad, la pérdida y la supervivencia, tanto de los seres humanos como de otras especies.

 

 

Firengiz Salimova in her village of Agali in the district of Zangilan, Azerbaijan. Internally displaced during the First Nagorno-Karabakh War in 1993, Salimova returned to Agali after it was reclaimed by Azerbaijan in 2020.

Hashim Rahimov, the photographer&rsquo;s driver from the village of Bichenek, Nakhchivan recalled to her memories of night time moth hunting using UV lamps and a white screen with her father, Rustam Effendi, Soviet entomologist and butterfly collector. Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan.

 

 

A través de esta narrativa personal, fotografía e historia, el proyecto de Effendi ofrece una reflexión conmovedora sobre la resiliencia y la belleza en medio del conflicto. Es  un recordatorio de la profunda interconexión entre el mundo humano y el natural, y una invitación a pensar en las huellas duraderas que deja la guerra, no solo en las personas, sino también en la vida que las rodea.

 

 

The high mountain habitat of the elusive and endangered Satyrus effendi butterfly species, named after the photographer&rsquo;s father, Soviet entomologist Rustam Effendi. The butterfly inhabits a terrain 3100 meters above sea level at the border between Armenia and Azerbaijan. Its caterpillars feed on a native species of cereal plant, which local shepherds feed to their livestock, threatening an already vulnerable butterfly habitat degraded by climate change and decades of war. Nakhchivan, Azerbaijan.

 

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