Illustrated by

Joel Hopler

The Inspiration

Kazakhstan’s capital: Laying the golden egg

Illustrator’s Notes

I initially thought it would be ironic to show a golden egg of happiness being held up by a beautiful piece of architecture to symbolize how the president of Kazakhstan is hoarding the people’s happiness. Then I re-read the part of the article that mentions the egg and realized that imagery literally exist through the Bayterek tower. I chose to create an image that more explicitly show’s a powerful fist holding the egg away from the tent of nomads.