Kyrgyzstan, Yurts & Shyrdaks
Clare Brett Smith
Kyrgyzstan
Photographs from the 1990s with a focus on n o m a d i c t r a d i t i o n s, Yurts & Shyrdaks.
Kyrgyzstan,Yurts & Shyrdaks, by Clare Brett Smith Commentary and photographs from the 1990s, with a focus on the Kyrgyz people and their traditions; the yurt, mobile home of their nomadic past, and the importance, then and now, cultural and economic, of their unique felt carpets, the Shyrdaks.
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Photographs & Text of Kyrgyzstan, Yurts & Shyrdaks by Clare Brett Smith
Library of Congress Card Catalogue # ISBN 978-1-4675-6876-0 â’¸ Copyright 2013 by Clare Brett Smith All Rights Reserved
Some of these photographs have previously appeared in HAND/EYE magazine and in Aid to Artisans publications
Clare Brett Smith 80 Mountain Spring Road Farmington, Connecticut 06032 United States of America
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Kyrgyzstan,Yurts & Shyrdaks Wool & Water, Horsemen & Herders, Artisans & Markets by Clare Brett Smith
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Kyrgyzstan, the Land and the People, mostly the People Describing the place, in all the travel memoirs I’ve so far made, I
My husband and I first visited in 1993 as volunteers for the
am always drawn first to the people. but the land, along with
International Executve Service Corps. Assigned to find crafts
politics and culture, forms national character. Kyrgyzstan is
that could be developed into livelihoods, the best choice, we
mountainous. The Tien Shan range stretches across the sky and
thought, was the Shyrdak, a traditional felt carpet, a dowry item in
divides the country into the northern steppe and the Fergana
the past, never for sale. Our organization, Aid to Artisans,
Valley. It’s beautiful, like Wyoming, cowboy country, horse
encouraged by Roza Otunbaeva, the first Kyrgyz ambassador to
country. ( I heard a man say scornfully that Kyrgyz ride horses,
the U.S., received a grant from USAID for craft development in
only Chinese would ride donkeys.) Wyoming has had recent
the region. Regional artisans already knew each other, all spoke
cultural exchanges, including rodeo participation, between the
Russian (one advantage of the Soviet years), and within a short
cowboys of Jackson Hole and the horsemen of the Kyrgyz
time they had formed their own mulitlateral organization, the
Republic. Clearly there is more than one Wild West.
Central Asia Artisan Support Association (CACSA).
Much of Kyrgyzstan is steppe, very little is cropland, but water
Key to the sucecss of this progam, was Dinara Chochunbaeva,
pours out of the mountains, and the herds of sheep are as
an accomplished painter, a leader and founder of a children’s
numerous as horses. Neighboring Kazakhstan may have oil, but
center for traditional culture. The Kyrgyz government’s craft
Kyrgyzstan has water, an increasingly precious element.
organization, Kiyal, had maintained a remarkable resource
As in the days of Genghis Khan, the nomadic traditions form
library, and almost all women in the country, certainly rural
the underlying Kyrgyz culture. During the Soviet years, with its
women, knew how to make a shyrdak felt carpet - from the back
central planning, tradition was overlaid with industries,
of their sheep to the finished carpet. ( An interesting point - in
collectives, factories and mines, but, with independence in
calculating the real costs of a shyrdak, does one also calculate as
1991, Kyrgyz people yearned to strenghten their own identity.
far back as raising the lamb?)
This became the basis of Aid to Artisans’ program to develop
A project like this becomes specific very quickly, and that’s the
traditional crafts into commerce. The U.S. government directed
appeal of it for me. It has been a delight to see the growing
foreign aid to “Building Democracy”, not a far-fetched idea at
renown of Kyrgyz artists and craftspeople in the outside world
all, since economic independence and small businesses,
and to continue the friendships we made. I am only sorry that
especially for women, bring influence and power to the
I have not been able to return again and again.
formerly powerless.
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Clare Brett Smith, 2013
Every September herds of horses move from the high country down to winter pastures in the valley 5
Herdsman 6
Young herdsman 7
Beside Lake Issy Kul 8
Kazakh child, early snowfall 9
Mosaic tile bus stop outside Bishkek 10
At a gas station on the road from Almaty 11
Young fashion designer in Osh 12
Seamstress in Shan Bubu’s Workshop 13
In the park in Bishkek
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Girl in Bishkek
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Many people of Russian heritage have lived here for generations. 16
Moscow, more than 2,000 miles away, would not feel like home. 17
Uzbekis are mostly settled in the Fergana Valley
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Two members of the Golden Thimble, a newly formed sewing group
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Dinara Chochunbaeva stands on the left. We stayed with her in-laws in Bokonbaeva, a small village on the southern shore of Lake Issy Kul. At her left, her sister-in-law, Jyldyz, living a farmer’s life, but a Moscow trained designer too.
In Bokonbaeva 21
Village life, a seat in the afternoon sun 22
School teacher in Bokonbaeva. Jobs were scarce in the first years of independence, and teachers were often the only people with a steady salary paid by the government. Renting a room to the teacher might have been the only cash income in a village.
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A fancy yurt, for tourists, near the the Ala Atcha national park, The red circle at left forms the crown of a yurt and is also the symbol on the Kyrgyz flag.
Even the farm house thatch echoes the shape of the familiar and cherished yurt. 25
The capitol city, Bishkek, is an attractive place in early October, backed by the snow peaks of the Tien shan, and filled with green parks and promenades. 26
Bishkek Park 27
Housing - Left and top, our borrowed apartment in Bishkek, and below right, a new housing development 28
Central heating, Russian style, is not installed in individual houses, but is literally central. In villages it’s piped overhead, and while welcome as an alternative to wood cutting and chopping, it is not an attractive sight especially when the foil insulation tears loose and flaps in the winter winds. 29
At Dinara’s house in Tamchi, Burge, as guest of honor, with the help of vodka, had just eaten his first sheep’s eye 30
Above, preparations for a feast in Bokonbaeva Below, a party at the Kiyal. The men were outside drinking vodka. Inside, Burge, a willing dancer was very popular.
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Our host in Talas 32
Our hostess in Talas 33
It would be impossible to think of a way to thank people adequately for their hospitality, even if I spoke Russian or Kyrgyz. It was a privilege to be welcomed into their homes and lives.
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Kyrgyz hospitality means comfort. Here, in Talas region, our hostess stacked these quilts, all of them, below and on top of us for our overnight stay. 35
Farm along the highway in the Fergana Valley 36
On the road to Kyzil Kiya, south of the Tien Shan range 37
The Tien Shan mountains float over the deep waters of Lake Issy Kul, the bare hills and a Muslim cemetery
Ringed by mountains, Issy Kul is almost a mile high and slightly saline.
Bokonbaeva 40
Beside Issy Kul 41
Near Issy Kul 42
Melons in the Osh Market 43
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Osh Market
Bishkek Market
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Osh Market 46
Klaudia Antipina, was a Russian anthropologist who had been exiled to Kyrgyzstan many years earlier. During her long exile she walked the whole country, learning more than most people will ever know about Kyrgyz ways, and she documented it all. Shocked that we, knowing so little, would attempt anything based on local culture, she generously offered to brief us. A mentor to many younger Kyrgyz women, she was greatly admired.
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Left, a rendering commissioned by Antipina and, right, a detail from a traditional hair ornament 48
Paintings from Antipina’s collection of costume paintings and right, modern version in white felt.
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Ice cold torrent in the Ala Atcha National Park 50
Water Power from the Talas Dam 51
Ancient Ibex petroglyph near Burana Tower
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Coiled ibex horn is a frequen motif in Kyrgyz textiles. This carpet is not made by cutting felt as in mosaic style shyrdaks. Called ala-kiyiz, this one is made by blending and kneading different colors of fleece into the background felt.
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Ram with a simple coiled horn
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Fellow travelers surrounded our van
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In the background, Burana Tower, an 11th Century minaret on the Silk Road
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Muslim Tombs
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Top left, resources for historians, artists and designers, the National Museum of Kazakhstan in Almaty. Bottom left, some of the many volumes folk art, costume, jewelry, yurt and horse trappings at the Kiyal in Bishkek. Right, a new, but still traditional, mosaic-style shyrdak. Opposite page, fine examples, in Almaty, of antique carpets with subtle colors and patterns. 58
My first look at one family’s shyrdaks. Learning how long it takes to make one, I asked what one shyrdak would cost? and got a puzzled reply, because they had never before been for sale. Perhaps, they said, one could be traded for a certain amount of vodka and some sheep. 60
Custodian in the National Museum in Bishkek, and a yurt at the far end of the hall
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Dye powders in the market 62
Shan Bubu’s dye pots, photographed by Lynda Grose, an Aid to Artisans design consultant 63
Working on Shyrdak squares, women in Shan Bubu’s workshop, one of the first private enterprises in Kyrgyzstan 64
Presented with an Ad to Artisans catalogue in which their work appeared, women of the Golden Thimble group in Bokonbaeva seemed pleased. 65
Made by a collage artist in Kyzyl Kiya , using fabric scraps and straw (for gold), and depicting a typical folk dancer with a shyrdak at her feet
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Not only decorative, felt is useful, for carpets. yurts, insulation and boot liners.
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The process is strenuous and time-consuming. Reeds are made into a mat something like giant sushi mats ........
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.... in which the fleece is spread thin, soaked with boiling water and rolled into the chi mat
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The roll is then pounded and dragged in the road and eventually the wool fibers mesh into felt. Karla, in green vest, ATA Field Director, helped kick the roll along. 70
Felting can yield sophisticated resuts like the gauze silk scarf inlaid with felt motifs above. Inset, Jyldyz holds one of her abstract designs.
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Silks and velvets, quilted bedding
Wool felt squares for Shyrdaks
Traditional hats for Kyrgyz men
In Osh, in the background a Rand McNally map of the world in English
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Worn at a dashing angle in Tamchi
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The yurt as a bar
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In the city, an unusually elaborate yurt
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The yurt crown as an embroidery motif 80
Inside a yurt, decoration is plentiful 81
Inside a yurt and felt factory in Tokmok 82
Easier to transport a yurt by truck than, as before, by horse.
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Tobacco leaves, rolled up in the carpets for summer storage, help to keep moths away.
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Left, Jyldyz made and assembled a miniature yurt for display in New York at an ATA show Right, a model yurt created in the Children’s Aesthetic Education Center on Bishkek
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I was in Kyrgyzstan, more correctly known as the Kyrgyz Republic, several times in the early 1990s. Much has happened since those visits, but the world contacts that were made by Kyrgyz artisans are far more than commercial. I hope this photographic book conveys some of the mutual understanding and affection that was an enduring result. Some of those connections appear in the next pages. CBS March 2013
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DINARA This book is in honor of my friend and colleague of the past twenty years, Dinara Chochunbaeva, and is in recognition of her important role in the revival of Kyrgyz national culture. She is shown here, right, at our first meeting in September 1993. The picture at lower right was taken at the Santa Fe International Folk Art Market in the summer of 2007. Below, gleeful children play and learn at the Children’s Aesthetic Education Center she founded in Bishkek back in the early 90s.
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A few of the many people involved
Burge, my husband, in the green hat, a willing participant in sirdak production, and Rafique Keshavjee, of the Christensen Foundation, with the Mayor of Osh
Susan Johnson, Director of IESC in Central Asia, at her home in Almaty and, right, Rima and Vladimir with me at the first Almaty Holiday Fair 88
With Sultan, the Director, and Jumulbaeva at the Kiyal in Bishkek Top right, with Dinara’s in-laws in Bokonbaeva, Bottom left, Karla Hostetler ATA Field Director Bottom right, Klaudia Antipina with the artist who painted many of her costume renderings 89
Traditional, and not so traditional, felt products: containers made in Osh, bird ornaments from Bishkek and a dowry rug also from Bishkek. CACSA, the Central Asia Craft Support Association now hosts a Felt Festival every summer in Kyrgyzstan, a favorite with textile specialists, from all over the world.
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At the Santa Fe Folk Art Market in 2007, left, Kyrgyz felt dolls for sale, above, the Artisans Parade
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Kyrgyz iconography in this collage (from the same artist on page 66) in Kyzul Kiya, the yurt, the beautiful women in traditional costume, and, in the background, the Tien Shan mountain range.
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I bought this collage thinking it a romantic allusion to the fantasy young girls have of a knight on a white horse coming to carry them away. I didn’t know till later that it referred to a more literal Central Asia custom, a tradition more akin to bride-kidnapping. It’s not easy to translate cultural traditions correctly, but, whether consensual or a kidnapping, this is still a dramatic image.
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copyright â“’2013 clare brett smith