Between Eagle Hunters and Horsemen, or How Kazakhstan is Shaping a National Identity Between Folklore and Modernity is the title of the new photographic project by Eleni Albarosa, which takes us through the steppes of Kazakhstan to tell the story of a young country undergoing profound identity transformations. Just 33 years after gaining independence from the Soviet Union, Kazakhstan is working to construct a new national narrative, following decades of domination that flattened and partly erased the cultural memory of local communities.

Eleni Albarosa moves between expanding cities like Astana and vast open spaces where ancestral activities such as eagle hunting, horseback riding, and traditional wrestling are still practiced today. Her photography documents a fertile tension between roots and future, folklore and modernity, between what is being recovered and what is being reimagined. The project goes beyond mere observation: it interprets, analyzes, and questions the very concepts of identity and authenticity.

Among the strategies Kazakhstan employs to strengthen its cultural image on the international stage, sport plays a key role—not Western sport, but the kind deeply rooted in the country’s nomadic history. It’s no coincidence that in 2024, Kazakhstan hosted the World Nomad Games, a global showcase that celebrates traditional disciplines as both political and cultural acts.

Eleni Albarosa’s work powerfully captures this tension: the steady gazes of eagle hunters, the taut bodies of wrestlers, the dust stirred up by galloping horses—these are images that speak not only of the past, but also of a future under construction. In a country positioned at the crossroads of complex geopolitical dynamics—courted by powers such as the United States, China, and Russia—the revival of traditions is not a nostalgic act but a statement of intent.

Photography thus becomes a tool to understand an identity in motion—one that does not reject modernity but chooses to navigate it consciously, starting from its own roots.