Moon Market

• Prize
• Photographer
  Nicolas Villaume, France

Moon Market /
The small city of Murghab is located in the middle of a high plateau
desert, a moon like landscape at the frontier with Kyrgyzstan and
China. At more than 3600m above sea level, the place was founded
by the Russians as ‘Pamirsky Post’ in 1893, as their most advanced
military outpost into Central Asia. The modern town was
constructed during the period of Soviet rule of Tajikistan as a rest
stop along the Pamir Highway. The population is about half Pamiri
and half Kyrgyz. Murghab is expected to become a major center for
trade between Xinjiang and central Asia. In fact, its considered as
one of the main doorway to China. This is confirmed by the huge
amount of cheap chinese plastic made stuff that we can find in this
unique market place made of old containers, like a moon base from
Cosmos 1999.

Awards - TEDx talk: "Pictures for actions" - Lima, Peru 2013
- Selected winner of the 2013 Latin American Illustration and American Photography
- Performance Awards of Humanity Photo Awards 2013 | People category
- Chosen winner of the 2012 American Illustration and American Photography
- 3 Honorable Mentions in Editorial, Photoessay and Feature story | International Photography Award 2012
- 1st Prize | Portrait category | HPA Humanity Photo Award 2006
- 2nd Prize | People Category | International Photography Award 2008 NP