An ecological applied art exhibition titled "Day of the Amu Darya River" has been opened at the State Museum of Fine Arts, aimed at generating wide public resonance.
The exhibition took place under the auspices of the Water Resources Management in Central Asia, taking into account climate impact. This international organization focuses on the rational use and protection of water resources. Students from art schools in the cities of Farap, Tejen, and Gokdere enthusiastically responded to this event. They sent drawings depicting joyful leisure by the river, fascinating fishing scenes, as well as beautiful river landscapes. Among the drawings were meaningful themes where a drop of water was equated with the life of a sprout.
Perman Atayev created a sparrow from recycled materials and placed a wheat ear before it. Perman named his exhibit succinctly and clearly: "Water is the source of life." Notably, alongside children, people of all ages, including pensioners, participated in the event. Valuable exhibits included painted shoppers—canvas bags that are practical alternatives to plastic bags. Retired people happily attended master classes and joined the ranks of environmental cleanliness advocates.
The exhibition also featured photo essays about the Amu Darya River by Merdan Orazov, a photojournalist for the newspaper "Turkmen Gündogary." His displayed photos capture sunrises and sunsets on the river, depict animals and birds, and bring viewers to places of mesmerizing beauty. An important aspect of the event was that some exhibits were family projects. For example, a model of a corner of the Amu Darya natural landscape was created by Anna Girchenko and her seven-year-old grandson Stepan. All parts of the model were made from recycled materials—plastic bottles, egg cartons, dishwashing sponges, matches.
Professional artist Dmitry Filipchenko collaborated with his son Andrey to create a model of the disappearing Amu Darya species of sturgeon—the spatula catfish. The model serves as an organizer and a lamp featuring the fish, reminding that the spatula catfish needs to have its former comfortable habitat restored. But undoubtedly, the main exhibit of the exhibition is a portrait of the Amu Darya River depicted as a mother-woman, made from black and white plastic bags by Nazilya Guseinova and her daughter Anahanum. The elderly woman in the portrait looks reproachfully at the exhibition visitors. Looking into her eyes makes one uneasy about their careless attitude toward nature.
“We are harmful to nature,” Nazilya comments on her work. “A large amount of plastic pollutes water bodies that give life to humans and the environment. The goal of this exhibition is to reach people's consciousness, to help water bodies free themselves from garbage.”
