The Unfading Light of Primordiality is the first international solo show of Surayya Mughanli (b. 1957) – an artist from Azerbaijan who caught Oregon Contemporary's attention as one of the protagonists of The Success Story of Remaining Invisible: Two Truth and a Lie experimental documentary film screened in October 2022.
Having worked for 40 years as the director of the History and Ethnography Museum of the Saatly District, 180 km away from Baku, Surayya recently has refocused on her artistic career that she had to abandon due to personal circumstances and the eruption of war between Armenia and Azerbaijan in the 1990s. The wartime left an indelible mark and pushed even further Surayya's aspirations of becoming a full-time artist. In the past decades, she exhibited occasionally and mainly locally, nevertheless; she has never abandoned her artistic practice. In 2019, she took part in a seminal traveling group exhibition, Off the Velvet Chest, curated by Asli Samadova, that surveyed three generations of contemporary artists from Azerbaijan and was exhibited at Triumph Gallery, Moscow, and SMENA Art Center, Kazan, Russia.
Assuming the alias “Mughanli”, thus taking to the medieval tradition of demarcating one’s territorial belonging to the place of residence, Surayya translates her love and knowledge about the history of her native land into her works – large-scale oil canvases and drawings on paper. Her works have a multi-layered plot, detailed and intricate compositions filled with deep meaning. In providing an explanation for her works, the Surayya would quote medieval poet Nasimi or link her practice to Nikola Tesla’s research. Ancient cults of pre-Islamic Azerbaijan can be traced in many of her works.
Surayya Mughanli is an Honored Cultural Worker of Azerbaijan (a prestigious title awarded by the Ministry of Culture). Her artworks are in private collections in Azerbaijan, Russia, and France.
The exhibition is organized by Ta(r)dino 6 Art Platform and curated by its co-founders Asli Samadova and Azad Asifovich.
Ta(r)dino 6 Art Platform is a Baku-born self-organized art initiative with international outreach. The platform fills in the niche in providing art professionals from EECCA (Eastern Europe, Caucasus, Central Asia) region and beyond with the opportunity to explore their ideas in depth. Ta(r)dino 6 supports the discourse on contemporary art within an international context, with a special focus on gender, identity, and equality in the art world.
Over the four years of its existence, the platform has successfully held events in Italy, Turkey, France, Germany, Georgia, Ukraine, and the USA.
Ta(r)dino 6 is a registered non-profit, non-government organization in Azerbaijan.
Hours: 12-5 pm