From its very beginning, Nizhnekamsk was envisioned as a city where industry and nature coexist in harmony. This idea echoed Vladimir Mayakovsky’s slogan "Here will be a Garden City", which greeted the first builders as they entered the city.

The cycle of four murals on the facades of residential buildings along Shinnikov Avenue forms a unified visual narrative about Nizhnekamsk and its defining qualities, shown in the balance between nature, architecture, and industry.

In this polyptych (a composition of four works), the artist employs optical effects and isometry: flat images appear three-dimensional, and when viewed from specific angles, they align into a single composition. An additional dimension is created by reflective paint — it produces the illusion of sky within the murals and changes their appearance depending on the time of day and weather conditions.

The author of the works is Artem Stefanov (Moscow). In his large-scale murals, the artist transforms the surrounding space using glitch effects, optical illusions, and geometric patterns.

The first mural in the cycle, "Beginning", opens the visual story of Nizhnekamsk, recalling its industrial origins. The city appeared on the map thanks to oil — it was the need for refining facilities that gave rise to a workers’ settlement, infrastructure, and eventually Nizhnekamsk itself.

The mural’s composition presents oil as a primordial substance undergoing purification — from deep black to the silvery sheen of reflective paint. This color gradient symbolizes transformation, the birth of the energy that fuels the city, and at the same time refers to archival black-and-white photographs from the Nizhnekamsk City Archive, capturing the first steps in the development of the city and its industrial landscape.

Oil exploration in Tatarstan spanned several centuries: the first mention of "Kazan oil" dates back to the 17th century, and the first attempts at refining took place in the 18th. Serious geological exploration began only in the 20th century, and on July 25, 1943, Well №1 near the village of Shugurovo produced the region’s first industrial oil flow, marking the beginning of Tatarstan’s oil era.

On December 25, 1960, construction of the new city began: workers lived in trailers, 12 people in a cabin. Just four months later, the settlement was officially named Nizhnekamsk, and on September 22, 1966, it was granted city status with a population of about 40,000 people.

Industrial images as visual evidence of the birth of an industry.

The next mural explores the theme of urban planning, symbolizing the moment when Nizhnekamsk began from a blank slate. Artem Stefanov created an optical illusion: it appears as if another panel building is emerging on the wall, blending with the real structures when viewed from a certain angle. By interacting with the existing patterns of the cityscape, the mural creates an effect of continuous urban transformation.

Nizhnekamsk was built from scratch according to the master plan developed in 1959 by the GiproGor Institute. The plan was designed for 170,000 residents and envisioned a balanced separation of residential and industrial areas, a well-developed social infrastructure, and extensive landscaping. In 1960, the project was awarded a First-Degree Diploma and a Gold Medal at the VDNKh USSR exhibition and competition of new city designs.

One of Nizhnekamsk’s unique features is that it was conceived as a "city without outskirts" — there is no central square, and the entire city is surrounded by greenery. Construction began with the building of the first oil refinery, and residential development was carried out comprehensively: along with housing, kindergartens, schools, shops, clinics, and sports grounds were built.

The third composition on Shinnikov Avenue represents a transitional stage of the series — the moment when the city begins to change from within. The cubic structure continues the motifs of the previous mural, but movement begins inside it: familiar urban patterns start to dissolve, giving way to nature.

Here, nature is only beginning to make itself known, breaking through the city’s geometry like a sprout through asphalt, and reminding us that it is the living essence that shapes Nizhnekamsk’s character. This is not a static image but a process — the city seems to open itself to nature.

Nizhnekamsk was conceived as a city built on the balance between industrial growth and respect for the environment.

Since the city was founded in an open field, regular volunteer clean-ups and tree-planting days were held. Between 1965 and 1967, 70,000 plants were planted. Typical initiatives of the time included planting two trees and five shrubs per Komsomol member, creating a "Friendship Flowerbed" of 4,000 flowers in honor of the city’s builders, and laying out the city park.

The final mural in the polyptych celebrates the process that began in "Growth". Here, nature no longer breaks through the city’s geometry — it takes center stage. At the heart of the composition is the small yellow water-lily (Nuphar pumila), a rare aquatic plant listed in the Red Book of Tatarstan. It becomes the key metaphor of the work — a symbol of ecological balance, resilience, and renewal.

This Red Book species reflects the landscape identity of Nizhnekamsk as a river city and reminds us that nature is its foundation. The ripples of water around it echo the Kama River, which gave the city its name and shaped its destiny.