Where the roots lead: the artist researched his family tree and began translating poetry
Turkmen artist Yakub Halmuradov clearly gravitates towards historical subjects in his work. Born in a Turkmen coastal region into a large family, he demonstrated interest in the ancestral roots of the Turkmens from childhood. At first, he often read the book of Plutarch, where the ancient Greek philosopher and writer described the life of 45 commanders, and a little later Yakub was absorbed by the scientific work of Lev Gumilyov “Millennium around the Caspian Sea”.
“There were ten children in our family, I could become anyone,” says Yakub. - My elder brother - a musician - was pulling me into a circle of music, I even managed to learn how to play the accordion. And the middle brother took me to the Nazar Yomudsky city art school and since then I began to draw.
Seeing the giftedness of Yakub, the teachers suggested that the young man continue his education at the Shota Rustaveli art school, so he came to Ashgabat. And having received an artist’s diploma, the he continued his education ... as a radio installer, having graduated from a vocational school.
– But the passion for technology did not become for me as big aa the passion for art. I returned to painting, taught children at school and continued to read historical books, the plots of which formed the basis of my paintings. Before starting work, I start “from afar”: I collect and study the facts, information, ethnographic environment of that time. This led me to the fact that I started compiling the family tree of my family.
Having worked a lot, Yakub Halmuradov composed his family tree until the middle of the 17th century and learned a lot of interesting things about his family tree. It turned out that among the ancestors of the artist was the poet Khatam Shakhyr and the ambassador to Peter I Nazar Khoja, who worked on the expedition of Alexander Bekovich-Cherkassky. Khoja’s great-great-grandson, Azam Taimov, was also interested in the history of the family, and when Khatam’s poetic texts came to him, he immortalized the memory of a relative by preparing for publication a collection of his poems, which was published in Turkmenistan in 1965.
- Even Pushkin said: "Disrespect for the ancestors is the first sign of human immorality, but the memory of them unites people." I was pleased to know that my distant ancestor, Khatam Shakhyr, studied with Magtymguly. And the famous poet visited Khatam, who lived on the territory of the city of Ashtarkhan, as Astrakhan was called in those days. Thanks to the work of Azim Taimov, I had in my hands an old collection of verses by Hatam. Now I am translating these verses into Russian. Their ancient philosophical language is difficult for contemporaries, so I try to make a semantic translation,” says Yakub.
The artist is convinced that the main goal of art is to educate people, enrich their inner world.
“For me, an artist is not a profession, an artist is more of a repeater, so everything he does should be supported by reliable sources and real facts,” the painter says. - As a technique only helps us hear the sound of music, but is not a tool for creating a composition, so is drawing.
