A prominent native artist from Albuquerque, New Mexico Nanibah Chacon has created a mural on the wall of the Municipal Arts Gallery on Izhevsk’s central square. The artwork was finished and unveiled on Izhevsk City Day which coincided with the Day of Russia and the Udmurt ethnic holiday Gerber. The mural was appreciated by and received an overwhelmingly positive response from the general public and the cultural community. The mural titled Migration depicts a woman in a flower ornamented scarf symbolizing the universal nature of folk aesthetics. During her stay in Udmurtia Nani gave a presentation about contemporary American native art to students of the Art History and Cultural Studies Department of Udmurt State University. She also spoke about her switch from graffiti to mural and oil painting to young artists from the local art school for children, and met with a number of Izhevsk artists, including Zoya Lebedeva and Aleksander Pilin. The theme of the artwork – migration of the ethnic aesthetics of beauty – awoke an echo in the hearts of Izhevsk’s citizens prompting a vivid international cultural dialog. Photos can be found on our Facebook and Flickr pages.
