Aziz Murtazaev

Aziz grew up in Uzbekistan and lived in South Korea for more than five years before moving to London in 2015. Living in different cultures frequently put him outside his comfort zone and required re-assessing his set of beliefs, norms and behaviours. At some point he experienced an identity crisis, realizing that he doesn’t fully belong to one culture (Karakalpak, Uzbek, Korean, British) which might seem like a troubling finding at first, as we, human beings, are wired for community and belonging. However, later he understood that this is a superpower, which gives an opportunity to look at some societal norms from outside and then decide what pieces he can take based on his values and looking at them critically. From that perspective London is very welcoming place as there is no uniform, single way of living life, and variety is celebrated here.

Aziz loves London parks and while travelling many European and some American cities he hasn’t seen as many large parks in the centre of the city as in London. Living near a large park encouraged Aziz to start long distance running, as he found it more enjoyable to cover long distance within a park without going for side roads. He used to come to Regents Park often for running when preparing for his first full marathon. He appreciated these large public parks even more during lockdown when going for a walk (or a run) in these parks were a way to feel some sense of normalcy and calmness in these turbulent times.