Art Contest, 2021
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!
Honourable Mentions
ART CONTEST, 2020
Meryem came first place in our second annual art competition with her work, Uyghurlargha Erkinlik. Her description is as follows: "You must stop the oppressor!" the Prophet PBUH said.
That's my idea behind this drawing. In fact by fighting for your rights and speaking up about what's happening in our home country, you are already a hero.
Not a famous one like Rabiye Kadeer or some tale heroes. Bu
Nasira came second place in this year's competition with her work, Those who fight. Her description is as follows:
The dragon refers to the Chinese government, which is looking angry and trying to destroy everything. The two fighters represent the Uyghur heroes and heroines. The girl is wearing an atlas shirt with a flag of East Turkistan laced up on her waist.The boy is wearing a doppa and hold
Dilshat placed third with his work, Iparkhan, which depicts the famous Uyghur heroine in full armor and atop a horse.
Judge's comments: Effort and dedication shows clearly in this piece. Iparhan is an important figure to us all and the artist no doubt wanted to do her justice. It appears to be a new depiction of Iparhan, a composition that took inspiration from several earlier artworks of her, tha
The 2020 art contest asked artists for Uyghur Heroes and Heroines. What constitutes a hero? How does one depict heroism? Who are your heroes?
Since we received great entries last year, we decided to give prizes to the second and third place winners this year as well. We received generous donations from the community and was able to raise over $300 to give to our winners!
honorable mentions
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Art Competition, 2019
Dilnaz, 15, came first place in our first art competition with her work, Dastihanda. According to the entry, it "describes a family gathering (dinner) in Keriye County, Hotan, East Turkistan".
Judge's comments: Keriye has always been a place of fascination among us. The artist here chose to go with a simple, everyday scene from their imagination to portray the life and culture in Keriye. Good imagi
Rifat, 18, earned the second highest number of votes from the public with his work depicting a man playing rawap.
Judge's comments: Shows good painting skills, a familiar image to most Uyghur that invokes nostalgia, great attention to detail but lacking a strong personal statement.
Public vote: 500+
Follow them on Instagram: @fatman.art
Asiya tied at third with her piece depicting a woman in traditional Uyghur dress.
Judge's comments: Warm and familiar, feels close to our hearts, the love and appreciation of our culture shows strongly. This piece is only held back by the lack of drawing accuracy which can be improved with dedication.
Public vote: 400+
Follow them on Instagram: @asiyakaraka
Leena, a new high school graduate, tied at third and received the highest score from our judge for her artwork depicting an Uyghur girl with the word "gul" - flower - written behind her.
Judge's comments: Very stylistic, interesting composition and effective use of simple colours. A modern exaggeration that provokes the viewers to think about identity, culture and outside influences.
Public vote: 4
Judge's introduction!
Malik is an accomplished artist with a background in fine arts at Julian Ashton Sydney in Sydney, Australia and Florence Academy of Classical Art in Florence, Italy. He has had works shown in exhibitions in the US and Florence.
All art was judged blinded - no identifying features were included in the submissions.
Follow him on Instagram: @orda.art
The advertisement for our first Art Competition. This was advertised in English, Uyghur, and Russian to reach as many people as possible and we received submissions from a diverse number of places! We hope even more artists can participate in the next one!
Note: unfortunately we did not receive sufficient submissions for the second category this time around, so we only judged the first category.
Honorable Mentions
