Visual Reconstruction of Citizens/Nations through Art in Mexico, Kazakhstan, and Siberia Nov. 5-9

Story posted October 31, 2008

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Gulnara Abikeyeva, with Bowdoin students, was a Fulbright Scholar on campus in 2003.

"Visual Reconstruction of Citizens and Nations through Art: Mexico, Kazakhstan, and Siberia," a four-day series of film screenings, discussions, and performances, will be hosted by Bowdoin College Wednesday through Friday, November 5-7, 2008, and Sunday, November 9, 2008. All events are open to the public and admission is free.

The week of activities spotlights the artistic construction of citizens in Mexico, Kazakhstan and Sakha (Yakutia). All three nations have used art (photography, paintings, music and film) to reconstruct national identities, traditional and new.

Mexico and Soviet Russia have used art and film as propaganda to create icons of new post-revolutionary citizens. Much emphasis was placed on children and women as the cornerstones of new nations. In the late-20th-century post-Soviet decade, filmmakers from Kazakhstan and musicians from Yakutia sought to repossess their past traditional identity almost eradicated during the Soviet era.

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Stalin with a Soviet child in 1935.

Wednesday, November 5
7:30 p.m. "Reconstructing Cornerstones of a New Nation: Kazakh Women in Soviet and Post-Soviet Film"
An illustrated presentation, with film clips, by leading Kazakh film critic Gulnara Abikeyeva and Bowdoin professor Jane Knox-Voina will examine women and children as important constructs of a new Soviet nationhood and post-Soviet reconstructions of traditional visual images. Lenin considered film to be the most important tool for educating new Soviet citizens. Art (particularly poster art of the Stalin period) will also be presented to show images of women and children as crucial citizens of new nations—images that minimize or even reverse gender and age roles. Film clips (English translation provided) include Three Songs of Lenin, Que Viva Mexica (Eisenstein), Storm over Asia, Amangeldi, Dzhigitka, The Daughter in Law, The Nomad, and Revenge. Beam Classroom, Visual Arts Center

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A child's art work in Pulgarcito.

Thursday, November 6
7:30 p.m. "Children of the Revolution: Constructing the Mexican Citizen, 1920-1940"
Revolutionary Mexican education officials implemented a nationalist art program in 1921 as part of an effort to provide an aesthetic counterpart to rhetorical nationalism that infused other areas of the socialist education program. Pulgarcito, a widely circulated government publication, showcased the best products of children's art. Elena Jackson Albarrán '98, assistant professor of history and Latin American studies, Miami University, will present and discuss these examples of Mexican art. Beam Classroom, Visual Arts Center

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Friday, November 7
7 p.m. Screening of the Oscar-nominated film Mongol
Produced by Russia, Kazakhstan, China and France, Sergei Bodrov's new epic feature tells a story of the young Genghis Khan (Tadanobu Asano) and his first wife, Börte (Khulan Chuluun), set against the background of exotic Central Asian steppes and decorated with sartorial elegance by the film's award-winning costume designer, Karin Lohr. Professor Jane Knox-Voina and Kazakh film critic Gulnara Abikeyeva will lead the post-film discussion, highlighting the family (particularly, mother and wife) as the driving force behind this legendary figure's rise to power. Sills Hall, Smith Auditorium

Sunday, November 9
1:30 p.m. "The Art of Magnificent Siberian Music
The Khatylaev duo from the Republic of Sakha (Yakutia), the Russian Far North, will perform spiritual folk music that expresses a deep connection to the land and nomadic traditions of the Sakha (Yakut) people. The Khatylaevs began their musical odyssey in 1987 and were the first to rejuvenate several Sakha musical instruments that had almost disappeared, including several string and drum-based instruments. The costumes and unique Sakha decorations will provide a visual celebration of this Siberian indigenous culture. Studzinski Recital Hall, Kanbar Auditorium

The week's activities are sponsored by the Gender and Women's Studies Program, the departments of Music, Russian, Art, Religion, and Sociology and Anthropology, the Bowdoin Film Society, the Blythe Bickel Edwards Fund, and Silkway Films, USA.

For more information about call 725-3355 or 725-3782.

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