Central Asia in Art: From Soviet Orientalism to the New Republics by Aliya Abykayeva-Tiesenhausen Laurie Essig they are fragile and courageous

they are fragile and courageous

Artist Statement

Tajikistan and Uzbekistan through its market stalls

money was resurrected as an essential tool of Soviet governance

Central Asia in Art: From Soviet Orientalism to the New Republics by Aliya Abykayeva-Tiesenhausen Laurie Essig they are fragile and courageousIn the midst of the space race and nuclear age, Soviet Realist artists were producing figurative oil paintings. Why? How was art produced to control and co opt the peripheries of the Soviet Union, particularly Central Asia? Presenting the 'untold story' of Soviet Orientalism, Aliya Abykayeva Tiesenhausen re evaluates the imperial project of the Soviet state, placing the Orientalist undercurrent found within art and propaganda production in the USSR