NEWS
THERE IS SUCH A PROFESSION OF DEFENDING THE HOMELAND
That is just the way of the world – frontier guards patrol our home country’s borders at any time of the day or night, in any weather, on weekdays and holidays to preserve peace and protect the lives of their fellow countrymen. “If you want peace, prepare for war!” as the wise maxim goes, and service members enhance their professional development and training. These men perform their primary duty and are ready to defend their Motherland at any time.
Ahead of the professional holiday, Motherland Defenders Day, the Museum of Fine Arts is running an exhibition of paintings and sculptures by Turkmen artists. It opens with a still-life painting entitled “After Meeting with Soldiers” by Honored Artist of Turkmenistan Yazmurad Dovodov. Did the artist know when he was working on his painting that it would become iconic? Today, almost every war-related exhibition at the Museum features this painting. It shows flowers and a bundle of books tied up with a ribbon - traditional gifts to a soldier from schoolchildren, students, and workers. Simple and sincere, they conjure up nostalgic memories of similar presents we gave to war veterans or young service members in our time.
Surrounded by the paintings, we unwittingly realized how challenging day-to-day activities of service members are. People’s Artist of Turkmenistan Gennady Babikov’s “Border Guards” portrays a group of mounted guards performing their mission in the mountains along the state border. The dramatic landscape with the gapping mouth of a cave makes an emotional impact on the viewer even deeper, but it hardly affects the frontier guards’ well-coordinated actions.
On view are several small sculptures. One of them, “The Cynologist” by Artur Abramov gives a more complete picture of everyday professional routines of those who guard our native country’s borders. It depicts a border guard with a service dog, highlighting that canines have become absolutely indispensable when protecting the border.
Annadurdy Jumaniyazov’s “Portrait of Mohammed” features a determined and courageous young officer. The artist used bold and even rough brushstrokes to bring out the character of the professional military man.
Arslan Mukhatov painted his father’s portrait from a photograph taken in the years of the Great Patriotic War. The young and handsome man put on his Soviet Army-styled shirt and military uniform and went to war rather than enjoying his life and raising his children.
Playing war games from early childhood, boys unconsciously prepare themselves to defend their country’s honor and dignity, if necessary. “To be a manly man, one should do a military service”, as a peacetime axiom goes. And boys start to prepare for this important stage in their lives when they are still at school. Honored Art Worker of Turkmenistan Toyli Esenmammedov’s “Army Send-off Party” takes the viewer to a festivity attended by all fellow villagers to send off a conscript with the most vigorous relatives and neighbors performing the joyful dance Kushtdepti.
The exhibition brings together paintings that have a shared characteristic in common: people’s warmth towards defenders of the home country, be it Great Patriotic War veterans or soldiers doing a military service in peacetime. In wartime, people supported frontline soldiers and provided them with everything they could. This warm and friendly attitude remains in a time of peace, too.