My Response to the 2010 Uprising in Kyrgyzstan: Drawing Our Trauma

(click on the picture to enlarge)
One declined, another accepted.

DECLINED. May 28th, 2010, I received the letter, which notified me:

dear sveta,

i just needed to let you know that we could not put up your pictures in the exhibit. i am really really sorry - it was a matter of framing them (our frames did not fit the measures and we certainly did not want to cut anything apart to make it fit). also, the other stuff we put up was from faculties or departments (not from indidivuals who work in faculties), so the concept was a little different than we originally expected. now there is a poster from the american studies department in the u, and the
ruhrgebiet poem by allen ginsberg.

(...)

again, i am really really sorry. and i hope you will come and see the exhibition sometime.

have a good weekend

ACCEPTED. June 14th, 2010, I received the letter, which notified me:

Hallo allerseits,

Anbei der Masterplan für die Konferenz, sowie eine pdf des Konferenztickets, falls ihr kein Studententicket habt.

In diesem Sinne, teu teu teu, und bis Mittwoch!

(...)

P.S.: Stefan, haben wir für Svetlana Makeyeva und Anne Kellermann ein Namenschildchen (Helfer)?
P.P.S.: Falls noch jemand morgen um 10 Zeit hat: wir packen die Konferenztaschen in
der Transferstelle...

Yes, I was invited to the Culture Entrepreneurship Forum to help with the stuff like distributing drinks and taking care of other small things. But then Angela Märtin, project coordinator of kultur.unternehmen.dortmund, asked me whether I wanted to take part in the Dortmund Creative Entrepreneurs Fair and exhibit my drawings in one of the five fascinating conference locations: DEPOT at Immermannstraße 29. DEPOT has always been one of my most favourite locations in Dortmund. Just take a look at this fascinating space, where contemporary local artists exhibit their intellectual and artistic works.

I exhibited eight graphic works from my family archive: these pictures were drawn for my pleasure, and two of the pictures were dedicated to my beloved. Hence, they were not for sale, but preserved for our home and occasional exhibitions like the one that took place in Katholische Hochschulgemeinde in the Ostenbergstr. 10 (Scroll down to see the poster of Russischer Abend am 27. April 2010 ab 19 Uhr in der KHG)

One of my favourite pictures - "Bad News from Kyrgyzstan" - might appear as the most disturbing and darkest in this collection. It is my personal response to what has become known as the 2010 Kyrgyzstani uprising (April 3 - 15, 2010).

During the uprising, I was in Dortmund. The call from parents. The bad news from Kyrgyzstan. I never felt that insecure. In the drawing, you can see me in a Kyrgyz dress, which is stylized... almost unrecognizable as Kyrgyz, but still appearing as oriental. With this, I wanted to signify that my stay in Europe changed me, but not completely. I hold a cell phone (in Germany, they call it 'handy'). The cell phone turns into a tool of torture. The solar disk -the Kyrgyz 'tunduk', an upper part of a Kyrgyz home called 'yurta'- functions as a kind of a razor throwing star. It destroys my ear. My vision gets blurred. On my shoulder, there is a naked human, swirled into a tumour. I got my worst dermatitis rash I ever had in my life the next day. I scrabbed the white matter coming out of the multiple abscesses with a spoon... It was that bad. This picture is pain. It is a drawing of trauma I try to overcome. In light of the recent pogroms and killings in Osh and Jalal Abad (please, watch the video below), I have very little hope things will get better for me and my family in Kyrgyzstan.



I am very grateful to those who support me and my country. Some people do it unintentionally, like Angela Märtin, who invited me to exhibit my graphic drawings. I had a chance to exhibit this particular one last week. People were coming to me and talking about it, and what they heard from the local news stations about the recent tragic events in Kyrgyzstan. Talking about trauma is the best way to cope with it.

------
P.S.: June 23rd, 2010. I received a letter, which notified me:

Sehr geehrte Frau Makeyeva,
Vielen Dank für Ihre Spende.
Ihre Hilfe kommt an!

Reprinted from UNHCR Emergency website: URGENT HELP NEEDED TO SAVE LIVES IN KYRGYZSTAN & UZBEKISTAN

People forced to leave their homes by the latest violence in Kyrgyzstan are in dire need of assistance. Please donate now and help UNHCR provide them with protection, shelter and aid.
You can make a difference.

My name is Svetlana Makeyeva. I am the author of this blog. I know that even 5 Euros can make a difference to my fellow Kyrgyzstani and Uzbekistani people. Please, visit the UN Refugee Agency website You can donate with the EC Karte, if you are located in Germany. The website is very easy to handle.