Balkhash / Балхаш
2021
Installation
Materials: Metal rod, digital printing on ceramics (kese bowls)
Collection: M HKA, the Shagylys collection (Inv. no. S0729).
Consisting of glued kese drinking bowls strung on a metal rod, the installation titled Balkhash was inspired by Akhmedyarov’s trip to the eponymous lake and its surrounding settlements. The photographs from that trip, which can be seen printed on the sides of the tea bowls, document the life of people and their interaction with the reservoir. Located in South-Eastern Kazakhstan, Lake Balkhash is not only a vital resource of water in the arid climate of the region but also an important part of local culture and mythology. The bright turquoise colour of the silicone that seems to be oozing from the cracks in the broken bowls in the installation refers to the colour of the water and the fragility of the local ecology. Shrinking due to the unabashed industrial extraction as well as the diversion of the rivers' supply, the lake is likely to emulate the environmental disaster of the Aral Sea. The shape of the work, which resembles a bead necklace, echoes the silhouettes of the ancient tumuli as well as traditional turquoise jewellery. Like the two strings of beads depicted in Balkhash, nature and culture have always been interconnected elements of Kazakh being.
