Since becoming independent from the collapsing Soviet Union in 1991, Kyrgyzstan has attracted some attention in the West for its two revolutions (in 2005 and 2010) and the 'gay propaganda' bill introduced to its parliament in 2014, but never passed. Sometimes referred to by European liberals as 'the Switzerland of Central Asia' for its relatively democratic constitution, Kyrgzystan has a complicated relationship with its Soviet past, a fascinating artistic history and a vibrant queer and feminist culture fighting hard against virulent homophobia and misogyny.

In this episode of Suite (212) Extra, Juliet Jacques - who has twice visited Kyrgyzstan's capital, Bishkek, and written extensively about the country's LGBTQI politics - talks to Communist and LGBTQI artist-activists Georgy Mamedov and Mohira Suyarkulova. They discuss the creation of Soviet Kirghizia, the Kyrgyz language and Stalin's 'Russification', the development of Kyrgyz painting, the refusal to 'de-Communise' after 1991, the School of Theory & Activism in Bishkek, queer/feminist science fiction and zines, the relationship between art and activism, and much more.

Juliet's recent Open Democracy article on LGBTQI politics in Kyrgyzstan - https://www.opendemocracy.net/od-russia/juliet-jacques/fear-and-loathing-in-kyrgyzstan

(Cover image by Metagalaktika)

SELECTED REFERENCES

Gapar Aitiev - https://soviet-art.ru/soviet-kyrgyz-painter-gapar-aytiev-1912-1984/

Semen Chuikov - https://prabook.com/web/semen.chuykov/949822

Yegveniy Fiks - https://yevgeniyfiks.com/home.html

The Gay Laboratory (Gei-laboratoriia - Leningrad, 1983-84)

Masha Gessen - https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/06/opinion/masha-gessen-putinspeak-in-kyrgyzstan.html

Owen Hatherley

Evald Ilyenkov (1924-1979) - https://www.marxists.org/archive/ilyenkov/

Interhelpo (1920s commune) - http://www.calvertjournal.com/features/show/10558/letter-from-bishkek-utopia-garden-city-interhelpo

JULIET JACQUES, ‘The Woman in the Portrait’ (2014) - https://fivedials.com/files/fivedials_no33b.pdf

Aleksandra Kollontai - https://www.marxists.org/archive/kollonta/

Kurmanjan Datka, Queen of the Mountains (dir. Sadyk Sher-Niyaz, 2014) - https://www.imdb.com/title/tt2640460/

SCOTT LIVELY, Pink Swastika

GEORGY MADEMOV & OKSANA SHATALOVA, ‘Against Simple Answers’ - (2017) http://artseverywhere.ca/2017/08/17/against-simple-answers/

László Mészáros (Hungarian sculptor, 1905-1945) - https://www.hung-art.hu/frames-e.html?/english/m/meszaros/index.html

Metagalaktika - https://www.facebook.com/Metagalaktika-1897353940522957/

Vladimir Oratsov (artist from Tashkent)

Queer in Space: Kollontai Communist Archive (dir. STAB, 2015) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tlXIK_oqjBQ

Oksana Shatalova

STAB, The Concepts of the Soviet

STAB, Utopian Bishkek

SYINAT SULTANALIEVA, ‘Element 174’ (2017) - https://www.calvertjournal.com/features/show/9831/being-lgbtq-element-174-syinat-sultanalieva-shtab

Utterly Other / Completely Different (Kyrgyz science fiction anthology)

Uzbek Metro - https://www.theguardian.com/cities/gallery/2018/aug/24/uzbekistan-secret-underground-tashkent-metro-in-pictures

Weird Sisters (fanzine) - https://www.calvertjournal.com/features/show/8406/new-east-100-zines-diy-freedom-expression