Uyghur Collective Art Contest

For 2024 we decided to ask our artists to submit work on the theme of HOME. We had some beautiful submissions ranging from landscapes to family, all tinged with a type of nostalgia that encompasses what we hope a home could be. Our judge Malik Orda Turdush had the difficult task of choosing only five pieces to go into the public vote, and we thank him again for that as always. We also received some donations from the community to go towards funding the prize pool, so thank you!

This year we went with the theme of Uyghur folklore and fiction! We had an amazing turnout and it was quite difficult to choose the finalists, but we managed it in the end! Thank you again to all the donors and to Malik Turdush for being the judge again this year.

All the participants this year have been given the chance to attend a free, 2 hour lesson at the Fundamentalist Art School. 

Head over to our blog to read the stories that our folklore series have brought up!

Dilshat placed first this year with his piece, "Turfan", depicting the hilly landscapes of Turfan and the marriage of its town to its nature.

Judge’s comments: This looks to be the work of someone with quite a bit of traditional art experience. Let us start with a few suggestions: 1. always think of an expression when you paint, what is it about this image that you want to express? Is it how big and majestic the mountain in the background is? Or is it how interesting, raw and intimate the village is? Make a choice and focus on that part. If it is the mountain then it should be much bigger in visual weight compared to the village for example, and not closer to 50/50 as it is right now. 2. The white ring around the mosque in the middle right of the image is very distracting. It needs to be in a darker colour and less perfectly round, right now it looks like a collar bone of a human neck, which I don't believe is the painter's intention. Now onto the good parts, the mountain texture looks wild, harsh and unforgiving, as it should be, transferring us to our homeland aided by the portrayal of an intimate, familiar village. The colours chosen are mostly great, apart from some of the almost white areas, the rest look natural and harmonious, with the blue playing against the yellow green.

Winnings: $310 (USD)

Follow them on Instagram: @dilshat.aripov

Bextinur (Maxtimusulla) came second place with her piece, Nuzugum, which depicts he Uyghur heroine lying in the midst of a gloomy landscape which reminds us of the swamps and reeds of her story.

Judge’s comments: Very effective portrayal of a depressing, sad mood using light, shadow and texture. The perspective, sense of space, distance and anatomy of the character all need major work and improvement but the expressiveness of this piece affects the viewer directly and sharply. It is an artwork that will linger around in our hearts for a long time after viewing.

Winnings: $210 (USD)

Follow them on Instagram: @maxtimusulla

Dilnaz came third place with a surreal reimagining of Urumchi. 

"I chose to illustrate a surrealist rendition of Urumqi and my particular experience learning more about the Uyghur culture. The bird boats represent the pigeons surrounding Urumqi's city streets. I have also used Uyghur architectural references to create the buildings in the background."

Judge’s comments: Magical mood, transforming us to a place that might have been, could have been. Very nice arrangement of architectural elements to form an effective composition of shapes along with the diamond mood light and the swan boat. A little more focus on the person or the swan boat with more details would take this image to the next level. 

Winnings: $115 (USD)

Follow them on Instagram: @misah_d  

The theme for 2021 was landscapes. Which landscapes capture you? What do you look for when you look into the horizon? Which cityscapes do you enjoy?  

Like last year we received some extremely generous donations so that we can award our top 3 for 2021 - thank you to the community for the ongoing support!