The National Visual Art in the Process of Formation and Preservation of the Ethnic Identity of Indigenous Peoples (By the Example of Khakass Visual Art)

Journal of Siberian Federal University. Humanities & Social Sciences 8 (2012 5) 1179-1198 ~ ~ ~ УДК 304.444 The National Visual Art in the Process of Formation and Preservation of the Ethnic Identity of Indigenous Peoples (by the Example of Khakass Visual Art) Natalia P. Koptseva and Natalia N. Nevolko* Siberian Federal University 79 Svobodny, Krasnoyarsk, 660041 Russia 1 Received 4.11.2011, received in revised form 11.11.2011, accepted 16.07.2012 The article is devoted to the various research positions with respect to the understanding of the culture system. The place of culture of the ethnic groups in the modern pluralistic society is determined. The authors disclose the uniqueness of the culture of indigenous peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East through the study of the Khakass visual art. Most of the focus is on the specific visualization of the ethnic theme in the works of Khakass graphic artists and painters. Researching the tendency of artists’ appealing to the ethnic theme, the authors cover the entire history of the Khakass art development from 1920s to 2000s. The article reveals the specific character of the so-called “Siberian avant-garde”, the contemporary school of Khakass visual art, and its connection with visualization of the ethnic theme in works of various artists. Having found out the tendency of the Khakass artists to appeal to the archaic forms of ethnic culture in their works, the authors suggest a classification of the art works based on the nationally significant values of the Khakass ethnic group, the archaic-material and spiritual culture expressed in the paintings and graphic works. The authors distinguish three most important values of the Khakass (the Khakass’ religious and mythological world outlook, the value of self-awareness as a representative of the Khakass ethnic group, the world of the ethnos) allowing to systematize the creations of the Khakass artists. Each of these blocks introduces a number of representational paintings and graphic works. Much attention is paid to the analysis of the visual potentials of art works, the artistic form of expressing archaic-material and spiritual traditions of the native population. The cave drawing of the ancient Khakass determined the world outlook of the ethnic group and became the basis for interpreting the content of the works of art. This enabled the researchers to identify the original ideals of the Khakass that could serve as a specific factor in ethnic self-identification in the multicultural system. Keywords: pluralistic society, components of culture, archaic-material and spiritual culture of the Khakass, visual art of Khakassia, Siberian avant-garde, Khakass ethnos, Khakass artists, ethnic values. * Corresponding author E-mail address: [email protected] 1 © Siberian Federal University. All rights reserved – 1179 – Natalia P. Koptseva and Natalia N. Nevolko. The National Visual Art in the Process of Formation and Preservation… 1. Theoretical analysis Ukrainians, Belarusians and representatives of of the culture system of the ethnos other nations of the European part of Russia. Nowadays researchers studying ethnos mark However, researchers use some different out some types of ethnos’ kernel which are ethno terms to call the peoples who lived here until differentiating. There are territory, character, the 16th century, long before the arrival of the culture, thinking, psychic setup, mentality and peoples who lived earlier in the European part of self – consciousness. Russia. There are “aborigines”, “native peoples”, Some researchers understand culture “autochthonous peoples”, “indigenous peoples”. as a range of such categories as the type of We can single out two typical positions that management, religion, language, traditions, are in the center of the modern cultural studies. customs, art and perception of the world. They The first position: some cultures are the mean that culture is an ethno differentiating subject of the study. They are considered as aspect in case of the unique combination of its “independent, consistent and stable”. Also they separate components. have fixed geographical location. What is more, The others follow a selective approach. They the processes of globalization are not typical compare components of cultures of different for such cultures. If a change is fixed inside of ethnos. In this case an isolated element can not these cultures, it is associated with the process identify the ethnos. of interaction between the individuals within this The majority of researchers agree that culture, and not as a result of contact between neuropsychological, emotional characteristics cultures. such as character, temperament, behavior and The second position: each ethnic group has state of mind really distinguish ethnos from each its own culture, so it is impossible to say “minority other. culture”. At present there are no monocultural With such approach, it is difficult to correlate societies. Different cultural groups live together the “average” (“general”) indicators according to in one society. In today’s world societies in which the above-mentioned characteristics of this or there would be one religion, one language, one that ethnos with specific features of the person. culture, a unique identity characterizing the entire Most researchers strongly deny the factor of population, have almost disappeared. Modern the territory as cementing ethnic group together. society is a pluralistic society. A number of researchers (V.I. Kozlov, We choose the second position that is G.V. Shelepov) define self-consciousness as characteristic of John Berry and his colleagues. a striking identification factor. Moreover, Thus, modern indigenous people do not interact the core of ethnos is precisely transpersonal only with one ethno-cultural group (monocultural self-consciousness even when private self- society), but a pluralistic society which consists consciousness may have zero degree of identity. of a set of cultural groups. The territory of Siberia and the Far East is There are two points of view regarding a about two-thirds of the territory of Russia. Siberia pluralistic society. occupies 40% of Asia. What is more, a fifth of the The first point of view: there is a “melting population in our country lives in Siberia. Most pot”, only dominant society, and a society of the population is Russian. They had developed “mainstream” on the side of which there are the territories of Ural, Siberia and the Far East minority groups. The fate of these minorities from the end of the 16th century. These are also is twofold: they can dissolve in the society – 1180 – Natalia P. Koptseva and Natalia N. Nevolko. The National Visual Art in the Process of Formation and Preservation… “mainstream” or remain marginalized, rejected Assimilation which has become a natural by the majority of this society. process for the multi-ethnic regions of Russia, The second point view was given by as a result, redirects consciousness of the ethnos John Berry and his colleagues who named it representatives to other cultural ideals that multiculturalism. There is a colorful palette of are, though not their “native”, still valuable in ethnic and cultural groups that keep their sense of the environment of a different ethnic group. cultural uniqueness and occupy their own place Awareness of the processes occurring within in the social structure which is characterized by the ethnic group generates anxiety among the universal (conventional) rules such as economic, representatives of minor peoples. In its turn, the political, legal agreements that regulate life anxiety boosts the need to search the traditions with different ethnic and cultural groups. Thus, that would revive the ethnic self-identification multiculturalism is characterized by preservation of the people and the ethnic culture in general. of cultural uniqueness of all ethnic and cultural Therefore, the research of the artistic culture groups and participation of all groups in a large of a small ethnic group enables us to reveal the pluralistic society. values that are relevant for the given ethnos and The cultural uniqueness of indigenous that serve as a specific factor in the identification peoples of the North, Siberia and the Far East is of ethnic group members, as long as the artistic embodied in their art culture, including visual culture is the unique sphere of human life where art which concentrates in itself the most revered, the original and native ideals of the people are sacred ideals the ethnic identity of the indigenous preserved. The work of art is the one of the main peoples is based on. expression forms of the national culture which is understood in this study as a means of fixing 2. The artistic modeling the archaic-material and spiritual traditions of of the ethnic identity the people. by means of visual art The object of this research is the artistic In the last twenty years (1990-2010s) the culture of the Khakass ethnic group, which is smaller indigenous peoples of Russia (Dolgans, small national community of Siberia and the Nenets, Selkups, Khakasses, Chulyms, Enets, titular ethnos of Khakassia. Evenks, Yakuts and others) experience powerful The subject of the study is pictorial and assimilation. In most cases they are forced to graphic works of art created by Khakass artists accept and assimilate with the dominant culture throughout the development of visual art in the of the population resident in the area where Khakass Republic. they live. As a result, the significance of their The researchers became interested in national ideals is levelled within the ethnic studying the artistic culture of the Khakass in the group although they still exist in-crowd. In the beginning of the 20th century. At this time the first worst case some forms of the traditional culture works devoted to various aspects of the applied of the ethnic group are lost as unclaimed by art and the earliest forms of artistic culture of representatives of the nation in the modern life the Khakass were published. This sphere of the conditions.

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