“There’s an invisible path between the new and the past, the flash and the old,” says Italian photographer Manuel Capurso, whose project From Akmola to Astana focuses on the Republic of Kazakhstan and, in particular, its rapidly developing capital, Astana.

“I was trying to find that path from a sense of history to artificial grandeur.”
Built on the arid Kazakh Steppe and surrounded by thousands of miles of vast grasslands and semi-desert wilderness, President Nursultan Nazarbayev declared it the country’s new capital in 1997, and its name was changed from Akmola, meaning “white shrine”, to Astana, derived from a Persian word that roughly translates as “threshold” – a place designed to command respect and awe. And Nazarbayev is doing his utmost to make sure it lives up to its name, hiring in many of the world’s top architects to shape the skyline, funded by Kazakhstan’s plentiful
oil, gas and mineral reserves.

The London-based photographer describes his wonder at the Baiterek tower, which was designed by Nazarbayev himself and looks like a cross between the Berliner Fernsehturm and the Oscar statuette. “It’s got this amazing golden globe on top,” says Capurso. “If you go inside you can see the whole city in 360° panorama.”

Another one of Capurso’s photographs features the Palace of Peace and Reconciliation [4], a 62-metre glass pyramid designed by Foster and Partners.

Capurso, who graduated from the London College of Communication with an MA
in Photography in 2007, stayed for one month on his first trip before deciding his images were “too snapshot”. He returned last spring with a 5×4 camera and a fresh outlook, inspired by Italian photographer Mario Giacomelli.

“He was detached from both the world of photography as an art and the business side,” says Capurso. “He was somewhere between an amateur and an artist.”