YARAT! Organization presents "Ghir-pourers" project by Niyaz Najafov

A presentation of the project of artist Niyaz Najafov "Ghir-pourers", organized by the YARAT! nonprofit organization dedicated to the promotion of contemporary art of Azerbaijan was held on Friday in Baku near the Maiden Tower. Famous artists and public figures attended the event organized during 012 Baku Public Art Festival.

Sculptural composition "Ghir-pourers" by Niyaz Najafov is devoted to the lost profession of Ghir-pourers - people whose task was to cover roofs with special black composite that they had to boil in iron containers. These days it's hard to see one of these city workers doing this simple but laborious job. Today when everything tends to become mechanical, the roofs are being covered with rubberoid boards instead. It is possible that in the future much more sophisticated technologies will appear. All of this will happen in a world where detachment becomes an integral part of human relations... Ghir-pourers used to work on old streets, covering the roofs of old houses. Their job had a secret symbolic meaning: the hot mixture not only made the roof invulnerable to different weather phenomena, but also fastened the friendship between the houses.

These rough yet light-hearted men were surrounded by children who enjoyed watching the meditative rhyme of their work. Ghir-pourers always communicated with the tenants, spontaneous conversations took place... It was a time of common multiethnic courtyards and of real rather than virtual relationships... It was... a different time...

With his dimensional composition the artist expresses his ethical attitude and awareness for the future where there is no place for such profession as Ghir-pourer for which the importance of manual labour was essential. For the artist this means the loss of warmth in human relations, the loss of a fragile aura that binds human souls together into one mental space. This very spiritual regress, hardly compensated by the development of industrial technologies, inspired the artist to create this sculpture.

Before the revolution ghir was used to pave the streets and sidewalks, as seen on archive photographs taken by I. Germanovitch around 1913. In the forthcoming decades ghir was traditionally used in Baku in order to isolate old buildings from rainfall by pouring ghir onto a flat surface of the rooftops. Large, heavy and not very portable heating stoves with boiling ghir were carried by traction exuding thick black smoke. Profession of a ghir-pourer in old-time Baku was similar to the one of a chimney-sweeper in European countries. The image of a ghir-pourer covered with oily tar has stayed as one of the essential element of Baku city mood for many years. No wonder that character of a ghir-pourer was frequently used by local cinematography - for instance in one of the movies from a gold series called "Sheriklichorek" ("Shared bread"), in which the role of ghir-pourer was brilliantly played by Fazil Salayev.

The 012 Baku Public Art Festival features the work of twenty-one of the finest emerging and established artists in Azerbaijan. Each has been given the task of creating a visual reinterpretation of a setting that holds significance for them within the city. By bringing their work into the public sphere, the artists will gain creative freedom and will achieve a higher level of exposure without the constraints imposed by a gallery or museum.

Works of the following artists will be exhibited: Altai Sadikhzade, Aga Ousseinov, Fuad Salayev, Mammad Mustafayev, Huseyn Haqverdi, Mahmud Rastamov, Teymur Daimi, Niyaz Najafov, Mekhti Mammadov, Rashad Alakbarov, Ali Hasanov, Aida Mahmudova, Faig Ahmed, Farid Rasulov, Leyla Aliyeva, Sitara Ibrahimova, Rashad Babayev, Nail Alakbarov, Orkhan Huseynov, Nazrin Mammadova, Shargiya Rahmanli .

The participating artists belong mainly to a generation of young talent, who have observed the regeneration of Baku, and are passionate about promoting Contemporary Azeri art, whilst staying in touch with their rich cultural heritage.

As part of the 012 Baku Public Art Festival the award-winning film director Rufat Hasanov will be making a documentary to record the project from inception to completion. He will interact with each artist and follow the development of their work in the lead up to the Festival, culminating with the unveiling of the artworks. This film will be shown at the closing ceremony of the 012 Baku Public Art Festival.

Founded in 2011 by Aida Mahmudova, YARAT! is a non-commercial, private organisation dedicated to the promotion and nurturing of Azeri Contemporary art nationally and internationally.


/AzerTAc/