Critical Writing/ Essays

Behzod Boltaev’s photographs return Bukhara as a city carried by ordinary life. His work turns away from postcard images to moments where past and present meet in motion and light. As Sontag wrote, every photograph is a memento mori; nevertheless, Boltaev finds vitality within stillness. The result is an invitation to look closely, misread, and see a city still becoming.

This critical essay examines the work of Iraqi-born artist Hayv Kahraman, focusing on themes of exile, memory, and fractured identity. Kahraman transforms absence into phantoms through repeated, anonymous female figures. Drawing on theory from Deleuze, Kristeva, and Edward Said, the essay explores how her paintings refuse closure, turning pain into ritual and asking viewers to witness wounds that endure.

By Guzal Koshbahteeva

This essay explores Shum Bola (1978), an Uzbek film adaptation of G’afur G’ulom’s earlier Soviet-era novella, through the lens of childhood, discipline, and moral development. Focusing on the character of Qoravoy, it examines how mischief functions as both survival and resistance in a world governed by unspoken rules. Drawing on Michel Foucault’s theory of discipline and power, the analysis reflects on how the boy’s personal growth mirrors broader cultural tensions around obedience, identity, and social learning in Soviet-era Central Asia.