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Children's
Art
Perception
of War Depicts a Society in Deep Grief
by Anne Kressler
If children's
art provides insight into the psychology of a nation in the midst
of war, then Azerbaijan can be said to be experiencing deep stages
of grief-at least, that's the obvious message in an exhibit entitled
"Children's Perceptions of War" at the Children's Art
Gallery in Baku (28th of May Street). The majority of works,
painted in water color, focus on the loneliness, pain, uncertainty,
and fear of this horrible thing called war which has battered
and scarred Azerbaijanis and Armenians for the past six years.
Generally speaking, the paintings are best characterized by their
sadness and great sense of loss, not by anger and revenge (see
Back Cover).
Studied collectively, they provide
considerable insight into prevailing attitudes about the war,
especially in the context of what is not represented in the drawings.
For example, the usual glamour, romanticism and adventure is
missing. Battle scenes drawn against the backdrop of mountain
village landscapes show a strong sense of realism. The children's
choice of muted colors are meaningful, too. Perhaps, art supplies
were limited but, again, it may have been the oppressiveness
of the war on everyday life which has caused them to choose somber
browns, blues and greens more frequently than dramatic reds.
Above Left: Nighar Aliyeva, 9
Above
Right: Rustam Guliyev, 6
Left: Dilara Talibova, 10
"Demonization of the enemy"
is extremely rare. Armenians are not depicted as monsters except
in the isolated cases of one or two children who were only six
years old, and even then the images are more frightful than hateful.
(One sketch looked more like an outer space centipede with a
hundred legs than any kind of identifiable earth creature).
Demonization is always a powerful tool that energizes war efforts.
Take for example, the US initiation in the Gulf War a few years
ago. Before the attacks were made, a conscious effort was made
to win US public support against Iraq's Saddam Hussein. He was
often depicted as monstrous, villainous and primitive. Insinuations
were often made about camels-implying backwardness.
President Bush referred to him as Hitler, attempting to bridge
the connection from the unknown (since most Americans had little
knowledge about Hussein prior to the war) to something unquestionably
evil in most people's minds. An entire joke series-"Saddam
Hussein jokes"-spread through the whole society, fanned
by television, print media, and political cartoonists.
But in Azerbaijan, which has had ample time for deep hatreds
to become entrenched even among children, such demonization is
clearly absent.
For many Azerbaijanis, this war is particularly painful since
nearly everyone used to share deep friendships with Armenians.
"We used to be friends," they'll tell you in their
efforts to describe this immense tragedy. In the past, intermarriages
were quite frequent. (See Azerbaijan International, Winter 1994,
"We Used to Be Friends," by Svetlana Turyalay.)
Paolo Lembo, United Nations Development Program (UNDP) Representative,
who has been living in Baku for the last two years recently observed,
"Azerbaijanis are very mild by nature. You rarely hear anyone
speaking aggressively against Armenians. It's very strange. In
other countries where I've worked under similar circumstances,
there's an immense hatred that permeates the entire society.
You feel it everywhere. But not in Azerbaijan. It's as if the
people are in a state of shock and disbelief that this war could
even happen. It doesn't make sense to them. Azerbaijanis are
very gentle. It signifies that they are ready to melt with different
cultures, different trading cultures and different contexts."
Above
Left: Sasha Morojov, 9
Above Right:
Turkan Gurbanso, 10
Bottom:
Nighar Shamsiyeva, 7
It would seem that these children's
paintings confirm Lembo's impressions-that the people making
the deepest impressions on these youth are not characteristically
vengeful and driven by hate.
From Azerbaijan International (2.3) Summer Issue
1994.
© Azerbaijan International 1994. All rights reserved.
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to AI 2.3 (Autumn 1994)
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