Life/Travelog

Inkuzart, a Chilonzor Phenomenon in Tashkent

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Gagarin street, the main Boulevard in Chilonzor. the apartment building renovated in a European style. Formerly a street occupied by junkies and drunkyards.

When you see something pleasant, gentle, and pure in this world, the first impression is that this thing just exists on its own in a certain region, pervading the culture of its people. But the closer you look, the more you understand that bright individuals are the stronghold of all this greatness, and more often than not, they fight hard and work hard to make this happening in spite of all the obstacles on the way.

Chilonzor esthetics. In left bottom corner there is a graffiti by Inkuzart devoted to the victims of earthquakes in Syria and Turkey

Tashkent has a few such bright people. One of them is Rustam Khusanov, the founder and the only guide of the X-Places community devoted to the history and hidden gems of Tashkent culture and architecture. After the tragic death of the soul of the city, Boris Golender, he is now one of the pillars preserving its rich culture and promoting it. I was lucky enough to visit his tour in the non-glamorous, controversial, but bright and eccentric Chilonzor district of Tashkent to see the masterpieces of another city soul-keeper, a famous graffitist Inkuzart. His nickname means Ink Uzbekistan Art, and he became a local star at the depressing COVID time as he went to the Tashkent streets to reflect the complicated reality of the day. Thanks to Rustam who knows all the locations and histories behind all the graffitis, only some of which are shown here.

Remnant of the old Soviet decoration

With a famous movie theme as a background (the Inkuzart’s favorite), I am remembering my yesterday walk with Rustam, full of impressions.

A typical Chilonzor yard

Chilonzor is a very controversial district. It’s quite central but not really. It’s quite clean, but not sterile. It’s called a “Booze District” for being infamously popular among marginalized people, alcoholics, and drug addicts and having so many locations to buy alcohol. All recent municipal urbanization efforts touched luxurious central districts – with new avenues, bike lanes, and modern outdoor cafes. As for Chilonzor, it was one of the good locations to live during Soviet time, accommodating modern houses and facilities, even experimental and imported ones, but quickly dilapidated after the USSR collapse. One of the main boulevards, the Gagarin street, became an improvised marketplace; then it was a street that bums, drunks, and junkies called home. The recent effort to clean it, install modern benches, decorate with thematic graffitis, and paint apartment buildings in bright colors brought some fruit but didn’t improve the reputation of the district much.

Soviet signage meaning the affiliation of this housing and consisting of abbreviations only
Early Soviet signage insisting to put garbage to the garbage bins

Chilonzor streets and yards are a mixture of old Tashkent’s spacious and green coziness and comfort, a phantasmagoric rote and poverty, modern facilities, and progressive art. It is degradation, art, progress, hope all in one place. And this is home to one of the best-known symbols of Tashkent’s street-art scene: Inkuzart. He dreams of turning the Booze District into an arts quarter.

Most of his works are gone already as they are perceived too political or too progressive or just don’t follow the strict municipal rules. A couple of graffitis only survived for half a day. This is not a catalogue of his masterpieces, but let me show you the examples of his work provided with some explanatory notes.

The Graffitis

The mural is devoted to the Jadids — a local early 20th-century intellectual elite who tried to modernize society on the principles of nationalism and secularism. As vivid supporters of the 1917 Revolution, they were later persecuted for their views under Stalin’s rule. The message of this graffiti, and the quoted verses by Qodiriy, is for Uzbeks to be like the Jadids — to be modern, tolerant, and intelligent, and to embrace their ideas, not only their names.
What is the reason for boys’ aggression and militarization? Is it history and culture praising such harsh military leaders as Tamerlane, or is the opposite true: does society praise power because it feels natural? The boy is a fan of the PUBG video game, which is based on violence, and he is looking at one of the most important Uzbek historical figures.
This controversial work caused a lot of debates and criticism. The message is saying a lot about relativity and controversy of modern politics an PR
This graffiti is created by local dwellers, inspired be people like Inkuzart. They wanted a brighter neighborhood to live in and started to transform it
The painter is very sympathetic to the women cause, so is the moth turning to the image. Here’s the dream of freedom and power being endagered by the household chores and roles dictated by the society symbolized by a broom. The statue is vearing a traditional uzbek clothes chapan.
The boy is the lead actor from The Mischievous Boy (1977), a film that is extremely popular among Uzbek-speaking people in Tashkent. The author of the original story, Gʻafur Gʻulom, one of the voices that shaped the soul of old Tashkent. The actor’s name is Abduraim Abduvahobov.
An hommage to Oksana Chusovitina, the most famous Uzbek gymnast with an unusually long career.
A municipal graffiti created to revive the main district boulevard. The space theme is an hommage to Gagarin, whose name the street bears.
Responsibility in modern Central Asian societies has many angles, and sometimes it’s just an unbearable burden for women under the pressure of the local societies
Look at the portrait of Benjamin Franklin. Did you notice the hemp, drug addicts, and other societal sins? In what kind of God does the protagonist trust?
The ecological collapse that is putting Tashkent at the very top of so many air-pollution lists. This winter was one of the worst. Here’s the modern greedy world, here’s the result of irresponsible urbanisation.

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