Rena Effendi is an Azerbaijani photographer, born in the capital, Baku, whose work focuses on issues of post-conflict society, social justice, and the oil industry’s effect on people and the environment. Rena, as she puts it herself, spent half her childhood in one country and the rest in another, growing up during the war, political instability, and economic collapse that marked Azerbaijan's path to post-Soviet independence. From 2002 to 2008, Rena followed a 1,700-kilometer oil pipeline through Azerbaijan, Georgia, and Turkey collecting stories along the way and documenting the impact this multibillion-dollar project had on impoverished farmers, fishermen, and other ordinary citizens. This six-year journey became her first book Pipe Dreams: A Chronicle of Lives Along the Pipeline, published in 2009. The project received numerous awards, includi ...