Central Asia: Bishkek Exhibit Cancelled; Photographers Face Increasing Scrutiny

The sudden cancellation of an exhibit at the Museum of Fine Arts in the Kyrgyz capital of Bishkek, along with the subsequent sacking of the chief of the Central Asian nation's culture agency, is stoking a debate over freedom of expression.

Kubanychbek Isabekov, a legislator with the governing Ak Jol Party, told parliament on February 3 that the exhibit by Russian-American photographer Sergei Melnikoff, entitled "The Land of the Kyrgyz," must not be shown in Kyrgyzstan because Melnikoff, who emigrated to the United States in the late 1980s, has been critical of human rights abuses in Russia, a patron state of Kyrgyzstan's.

"Russia is our major strategic partner. How can we allow such a person to hold his exhibits here in this country?" local media outlets quoted Isabekov as saying.

After the parliamentary session, Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiyev fired the director of the State Culture Agency, Sultan Raev, for allowing the exhibition.

Yuristanbek Shiraev, director of the Kyrgyz National Museum of Fine Arts, where the exhibit was scheduled to open on February 11, expressed disappointment over the government's action. "I think arts and politics should be absolutely separate," Shiraev said February 4.

Noting that the exhibit featured a series of nature photographs, Akmat Alagushev, head of the Media Commissioner's Institute, a non-governmental organization, condemned the cancellation. "If a photo exhibition would be introduced as something negative about Russians or regarding Russians, that would a different case. I think it is absolutely wrong that the exhibit was cancelled and was prohibited. This is censorship. I think authorities made the wrong decision," Alagushev said.

But Roza Otunbaeva, head of the opposition Social Democratic faction in parliament, suggested Melnikoff's exhibit was cancelled not because of his political opinions, but because his work lacked merit. "Here we are talking about low-quality art, about scams and simple Photoshop [techniques]. In his exhibition, "The Land of the Kyrgyz," there is only one picture with a Kyrgyz shepherd and there were so many pictures with people in Tibet. Probably, he thinks that Tibet and Kyrgyzstan is the same thing," she told EurasiaNet.

"We have so many first-class, great photographers who we don't support, and our government pays $50,000 to this Melnikoff to produce books and calendars," Otunbaeva continued. "We demand selectiveness and competence from our government."

Bishkek-based art critic Gamal Bokonbaev also expressed the opinion that Melnikoff's work lacked "artistic value." At the same time, Bokonbaev said there was "no need to prohibit exhibitions." Moreover, the Kyrgyz parliament, he contended, created a publicity coup for Melnikoff. "The parliament made such a big deal out of it; it has played in a good way for him. ? I think he must like it," Bokonbaev said.

This is not the first time in 2010 that a photographer's work has come under political fire in Central Asia. On January 13, Uzbek photographer Umida Akhmedova was charged in Tashkent with insulting the "traditions of the Uzbek people" with a series of photographs that depict daily life in her country. The indictment, cited by the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), said that Akhmedova's "unscientific, unsound, and inappropriate" photographs are "directed at discrediting [the] values and traditions of our people, and hold negative information that can affect moral and psychological conditions of the youth."

Akhmedova faces up to eight years in prison, if convicted. CPJ has urged the Uzbek government to drop the "absurd" charges.