The "Neo-Poetry" Exhibition Introduced Ashgabat Residents to the Genre of Visual Poetry
ORIENT | Culture. Ahead of Turkmenistan's Day of Culture and Arts, the Ashgabat Art Bazaar gallery became a venue for a unique creative experiment. The exhibition "Neo-Poetry" opened there, authored by renowned poet and writer Hemra Shirov, the first in the country to work in the genre of visual and experimental poetry. Organizational support for the exhibition was provided by the "Crossroads of Arts" creative project and staff of the Bazar Amanov State Children's Library.
The exhibition, which unfolded in the halls of the Art Bazaar, presented the capital's intelligentsia and creative elite with a completely new perspective on literature. Hemra Shirov's poetry transcended the confines of the traditional book page: viewers saw figurative calligrammatic poems, where lines form the silhouettes of objects, as well as complex acrostics, mesostimes, and anagrams, whose textual constructions can be read in different directions and from unexpected angles.
The exhibition's key feature was its interactivity and tactile freedom—visitors could pick up the works, turn them over, and study them like graphic scores. Greeting colleagues and friends, the author himself noted that the exhibition was the culmination of his many years of research and an attempt to give text a visual dimension. Incidentally, Hemra Shirov is the inventor of a new Turkmen poetic form, which he called "Kerkav."
The gallery's owner, Tadjigul Kurbanova, directors Charyar Seyidov and Rovshen Velmiev, children's library representative Myahri Muradova, and renowned artists Mozhek Charyev and Danatar Charyev congratulated the artist on the opening of the exhibition. A highlight of the vernissage was the screening of animated films based on Hemra Shirov's poems (these cartoons, which have already won awards at international festivals, are available to a wider audience on the national platform "Belet").
The official part of the exhibition seamlessly transitioned into a warm musical and poetry evening, hosted by Gulovser Rakhmanova. Hemra Shirov's lyrical lines have inspired many Turkmen composers. The gallery also featured works created through long-standing collaborations with Jeren Kurbanklycheva, Ashir Abdullaev, Aina Shirova, and Serdar Rejepov.
Guests enjoyed performances by vocalist Begench Moshiyev, who performed the popular hit "Tansa çyk garagöz," renowned accompanist Stella Faramazova, singers Akgul Togtamyradova and Gozel Orazmuradova, clarinetist Vepa Muradov, violinist Leyli Salykhova, and vocalist Aizheren Abdullaeva.
The performances of young talents underscored the special continuity of generations: the winner of the "Yash Zehin" competition, Babaklych Annacharyev, presented new songs, and the young reciter, Aykhan Orazdurdyyev, flawlessly recited Shirov's poems in both Turkmen and Russian.
A fine detail of the evening was the presentation of an honorary certificate to the poet from the Nature Conservation Society, presented by the organization's specialist, Gulnara Charyyarova, who noted the profound ecological and aesthetic threads in the author's lyrics.
Aina Yolbarsova
