Berik Syzdykov
Karipbek Kuyukov, 2012
30×40, oil, canvas
Karaganda, Kazakhstan
30×40, oil, canvas
Karaganda, Kazakhstan
How does the traveller see it?
(Fragment of a post from a Facebook page)
When the Heart Replaces Hands
From Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, my journey took me to Karlag, the former administrative center of the Gulag's capital, now a museum located in the village of Dolinka, near Karaganda. My guide, Yerlan, told me about his friend, an artist born without arms who had dedicated his life to the fight against nuclear test sites and nuclear weapons testing.
We have to meet him, I said excitedly. Paintings with a unique story are exactly what I collect! Soon we were at the artist's home in Karaganda.
Berik Syzdykov, whom I depicted, was born blind and with a facial deformity, the author of the painting, Karipbek Kuyukov, told me. He, just like me, became a victim of the Soviet Union's nuclear tests.
Berik's relatives forced him to play the dombra in underground passages, and I included this traditional Kazakh musical instrument in the painting. Karipbek's works are in the collections of Barack Obama, Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and other celebrities.
"I am against war," Karipbek told me. "And I told many of my former Russian acquaintances to go f@ck themselves." "Following the Russian warship, as they say in Ukraine," I replied with a laugh, supporting my interlocutor.
From Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan, my journey took me to Karlag, the former administrative center of the Gulag's capital, now a museum located in the village of Dolinka, near Karaganda. My guide, Yerlan, told me about his friend, an artist born without arms who had dedicated his life to the fight against nuclear test sites and nuclear weapons testing.
We have to meet him, I said excitedly. Paintings with a unique story are exactly what I collect! Soon we were at the artist's home in Karaganda.
Berik Syzdykov, whom I depicted, was born blind and with a facial deformity, the author of the painting, Karipbek Kuyukov, told me. He, just like me, became a victim of the Soviet Union's nuclear tests.
Berik's relatives forced him to play the dombra in underground passages, and I included this traditional Kazakh musical instrument in the painting. Karipbek's works are in the collections of Barack Obama, Ban Ki-moon, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and other celebrities.
"I am against war," Karipbek told me. "And I told many of my former Russian acquaintances to go f@ck themselves." "Following the Russian warship, as they say in Ukraine," I replied with a laugh, supporting my interlocutor.
And what do you think?