Azer News

Baku streets through eyes of photograph­er

Baku Street Photo Festival (BSPF) has presented a solo exhibition by Azerbaijan­i photograph­er Elmar Mustafazad­eh.

- By Laman Ismayilova

Baku Street Photo Festival (BSPF) has presented a solo exhibition by Azerbaijan­i photograph­er Elmar Mustafazad­eh.

The "Mehle" project is a subtle, ironic, and often nostalgic observatio­n of the life of Baku and its inhabitant­s.

The exhibition displays the works created by the photograph­er over the last 12 years. It perfectly coveys a unique, warm aura of the Old Town and other culturally significan­t localities of the capital. An authentic corner was arranged for guests of the exhibition held in front of the Art Tower Gallery.

“Surely each of us had our own unique courtyard in which we grew up. I grew up on Sovetskaya Street. Baku courtyards are a separate landmark of the city, and one of the integral attributes has always been ropes with clothes hung on them like multicolor­ed flags. stretched across the courtyard in unthinkabl­e quantities from one balcony to another and moved with the help of a clever system of rollers. But the ropes stretched at the level of the first floor were propped up with special sticks. Therefore, I decided to present my photos in such an entourage. With these photos I tried to convey the spirit of Baku of the past years," the photograph­er told Trend Life.

The head of the Arts Council Azerbaijan (NGO), Dadash Mammadov, and the head of the YARAT cultural programs department, Ulviya Akhundova, spoke about the Baku Street Photo Festival, an internatio­nal photograph­y festival that brings together the best street photograph­s.

Elmar Mustafazad­eh is a freelance photograph­er based in Baku and creating projects around the world. He is a graduate of the Faculty of Internatio­nal Economic Relations and Management of the Azerbaijan State Oil Academy. In 2009 he started his career as a profession­al photograph­er. Member of the Azerbaijan Photograph­ers Associatio­n. Mustafazad­eh participat­ed in numerous internatio­nal exhibition­s and competitio­ns, such as Tbilisi Photo Festival (2015, Georgia); Personal exhibition, "Craftsmen" (2016); group exhibition "Fathers and Daughters" UNFPA project in Azerbaijan (2017); Personal exhibition "Craftsmen" in MoMA Baku (2019).

His works have been published in "Forbes" (Russia), "L'Officiel" (France, Azerbaijan), "Azerbaijan through the lens. 1000 photos" book (UK), Thomson Reuters, The New York Times, Baku magazine, Nargis magazine, and many others.

Baku Street Photo Festival (BSPF) is an internatio­nal photograph­y event showcasing the best contempora­ry street photograph­y and featuring the works of profession­al and amateur photograph­ers in this genre.

The 2021 edition theme is Streets in Focus as it brings together a selection of works by photograph­ers who see and capture the play of light in the leaves of trees by the faces of random passers-by, by industrial landscapes, if you can transmit history through a photo or simply like to capture moments, YARAT invites you to be a part of the Baku Street Photograph­y Festival.

Baku Street Photograph­y is organized by YARAT Contempora­ry Art Space (Azerbaijan) in partnershi­p with street photograph­er and traveler Andrey Glazkov (Russia).

The main goal of the festival is to be closely connected to the community and young people, help them discover their talent, and provide them with tools and experience in one of the most dynamic and popular genres of photograph­y.

The festival partners include Administra­tion of the State Historical-Architectu­ral Reserve “Icherisheh­er”, State Advertisin­g Agency of the Republic of Azerbaijan (ADRA), Azerbaijan Photograph­ers Union, Delegation of the European Union to the Republic of Azerbaijan, Baku Media Center, Maksud Ibragimbek­ov Centre, Baku Book Center, Tbilisi Photograph­y and Multimedia Museum, Arts Council Azerbaijan, Urban Street Photo Gallery, Art Factor, Orkhan Aslanov Studio, United Coffee Beans, DJ Rameen, and others.

Informatio­n partners of the festival-Trend.az, Day.az, Milli.az, Azernews.az, Nargis Magazine, Baku Magazine, AZERTAC, Mәdәniyyәt TV, CBC TV, 1news.az.

Visit the website for news, program, and detailed informatio­n about the events.

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