A seemingly traditional, colorful carpet flowing into a red, fluffy sphere of thread hangs on the wall of an exhibition at Yarat! (
Az. create
) Contemporary Art Center in Baku.
World-renowned Azerbaijani artist Faig Ahmed’s solo exhibition “Nə var, odur” (
Az. fig. “As things have been…”
), dives into his country’s gender relations and social structures within traditional communities, using carpets boasting patterns of a provocative hyper-modernity.
Former assistant curator at Yarat Elene Kapanadze says Ahmed’s works exemplify the style of many contemporary Azerbaijani artists.
“The common theme in the Azerbaijani arts community is the country’s vernacular cultural heritage; carpets, national ornaments, traditional crafts are often the focus of contemporary artists”.
Ahmed is not the only Azerbaijani contemporary artist using inspiration from his home country to make a name for himself internationally. Ali Hasanov, Farid Rasulov, Fakhriyya Mammadova and Sitara Ibrahimova are just a few of the contemporary artists frequently mentioned by the international press and who have ‘made it’ outside of the country as well.
However, it is not without help that Azerbaijani artists have broken out internationally.
Ahmed himself is one of the founding organizers of the
Yarat! Contemporary Art Center
.
The institute is one of the leading forces behind promoting, education and pushing contemporary artists in Azerbaijan to new heights. Yarat! was founded in 2011, and its first successful international event was their exhibition at the 55th Venice Biennale of Art in 2013.
The well-funded institute is run by Aida Mahmudova – the niece of Azerbaijan’s First Lady, Mehriban Aliyeva. Mahmudova has insisted on multiple occasions that despite being the first lady’s niece, Yarat is completely independent from the state and that they receive their funding from private donors.
“People think that just because of my relations, it affects our independence. But staying independent is very important to me. Even if we have technical support from the government – they allow us to rent spaces and to obtain permission for various events we have done – we are not funded by the government”, Mahmudova once
told Forbes
.
Nevertheless, Yarat artists do seem to apply self-censorship to their works, which can be seen in the nondescript or sometimes complete lack of titles for the artworks of the institute such as ‘Composition’ – implying there is more to the art works on display than they are allowed to say.
Or, as Forbes described it in their article: “truths in the paintings, truths artists aren’t allowed to express outright, but that exist silently, undescribed and uncaptioned. No painting in the museum is outwardly entitled anything pertaining to a political matter, let alone a critique of the country”.
And the lack of critique might not only be because of the link to the presidential family directly, but could also be traced back to the funding of the institute.
With large contributions from, for example, telecom companies – Mahmudova’s cousins, the daughters of President Aliyev, are both beneficiaries of Azercell and Azerfon, and evidence suggests this to be the case for Bakcell as well – give the artists in the institute very little room to freely express themselves artistically.
But it is not only Yarat who is a player in the contemporary art field in Azerbaijan. Oliver Mestelan, a Swiss financier and art collector, owns Baku’s Kiçik QalArt gallery and founded the Art ex East Foundation.
Mestelan’s ties with the presidential family run deep. Not only was he one of the owners of the Hughson company – a parent company which owns telecom company Azerfon – he is also the senior manager at a partner company of the “British” Globex International which has thoroughly mined the Chovdar region. Mestelan is also listed as a member of the supervisory board of Ataholding, the company that owns AtaBank and half of VTB’s Azerbaijani subsidiary.
As a result of his ties, the
US State Department has Mestelan listed
as one of the “top Azerbaijani officials…of particular interest”, according to an article in The Atlantic.
Mestelan is often asked to partake as judge in art competitions in the country, and his fund Art ex East Foundation has been involved in many art events in the Caucasus. The Swiss banker himself has curated several different exhibitions featuring works by, for example, Faig Ahmed and other artists linked with Yarat.
In a society where most artists can only work under the auspice of the government, it is a given that their freedom to express themselves is heavily censored in order to survive.
In the recent report
Creativity Under Pressure: Artistic Freedom of Expression in Azerbaijan
, the authors stress that “the Azerbaijani authorities have used a range of tactics to silence critical artistic expression, including harassment, intimidation, threats, interference, legal pressure, arrest, imprisonment, and torture”, arguing that artists as a result apply a heavy load of self-censorship.
And former assistant curator at Yarat, Elene Kapanadze, says she saw this clearly as well.
“I think that there is definitely a lot of self-censoring present among the contemporary Azerbaijani artists and a lot of anxiety that something may possibly become problematic”, Kapanadze told Meydan TV.
Young urban art curator Sabina Abbasova agrees and explains that major bureaucratic regulations also dissuade artists from exhibiting their pieces.
“Artists in Azerbaijan can do anything while avoiding political themes. That is – they are free in their apartment, but the city is not ours”, she says.
Contemporary art, which has had a decisive role driving social and political change, has the power to challenge democracy. And in Azerbaijan, where this is virtually impossible, is there room for exceptional and challenging contemporary art?
Kapanadze is hopeful that Azerbaijani artists will step up their game: “I think contemporary art allows for the creation of a platform where socially-sensitive subjects can be voiced in an extremely powerful way. There are a few examples of contemporary Azerbaijani artists addressing such themes through their art; I just hope there will be more of them speaking more boldly about these difficult conditions that surround them”.
