![]() I met with all participating artists, both in person and online. Looking for new codes, symbols, and answers became a central point of the journey.Ībove: Tiaras by Jol Jol, a young Kazakh jewelry brand whose work is based on roads, repeat the shape of seven rivers in Kazakhstan. It was also about connecting with new people, places, and practices. The trip back home in the post-pandemic period was not only about visiting my family, friends, and memories. But the news kept coming and my reaction to it proved that one will never develop an emotional stability for today’s atrocities.Īfter I announced the theme for the “News from Central Asia” show and sent out invitations to selected artists, I packed my stuff and went to Kyrgyzstan. Now living and witnessing recent political and social upheavals in the US, I thought I’d developed some sort of immunity to the experiences of that kind. Who were we, what have we become, and what have we done? Looking at what I am today, I can see my identity formation through a number of major historical events: being born and brought up in the Soviet Union, experiencing Perestroika, collapse of the old regime, life in the newly independent Muslim state, the Tulip Revolution, the April Revolution, and immigration. The past year was full of cataclysms that made us turn back while looking forward. Model: Kamila Sarieva MUA: Bashirova Tokhtykhan Assistant: Zhypariza Zhumagazieva. Through the tapestry of creative visions, artworks, and field notes, I was hoping to portray the complex thinking and challenging statements of makers, designers, and artists from Central Asia.Ībove: “Fate as a Burden” by Altynai Osmoeva, Kyrgyzstan: The heaviness of legacy, knowledge, and fate that women wear.įelt, metal (tin), crystals, hand printed silk lining 2021 Attributions: Jewellery & styling : Altynai Osmoeva Photography: Zemfira Abasova When I heard that “The Power of Jewelry” was going to be the theme of the New York City Jewelry Week in 2021, I wanted to propose an exhibition that would become a visual and tactile reflection of the news from Central Asia. When I call my mother, who lives in Kyrgyzstan, to ask for news, it is never about a new purse that she bought or my relative’s new born baby or anything of that sort, it is always about the politics in the region. Born in Kyrgyzstan, former Soviet Republic in Central Asia, I now live in the US. News from the motherland worries the most. I take a deep breath to read the news from Central Asia. Excerpted from Aida Sulova’s Press Release for News From Central AsiaĪida Sulova’s Curatorial Field Notes for News From Central Asia Since its Independence gained after the collapse of the Soviet Union, Central Asian countries have been undergoing a number of major political, social, cultural transformations. Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan are former Soviet Republics that comprise Central Asia today. Central Asia is a region which stretches from the Caspian Sea in the west to China and Mongolia in the east. Examples include “Kinematics of Protests,” “Perestroika,” “Wearable Memory Card,” “Women of Kashgar,” “Cotton as a Curse,” says curator Sulova. Although the concept of this exhibition has a geographical representation, the themes of the news are relevant to what we are witnessing in the world. For New York City Jewelry Week 2021, curator Aida Sulova asked Central Asian artists and designers to share the news from their home country in the form of a wearable object – a jewelry piece.įor many artists in Central Asia making art is the only way to respond and talk about the events taking place today. News From Central Asia exhibition brings together Central Asian artists, makers, and designers whose inspirational works reflect political protests, climate change, collective memory restoration, jewelry as reminders of historical events, transformation caused by modernization.
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