During the days of Soviet censorship there very little anyone could pass off as acceptable art. If your canvas did not portray a hammer and sickle and an overly masculine woman holding a bushel of wheat, you were out - and in most cases with a one one way ticket to a gulag. The Desert of Forbidden Art is a documentary that has been hyped up since its creators started filming. Amanda Pope, Tchavdar Georgiev and Gennadi Balitski were the masterminds behind the film and responsible for bringing this story to the wild west.

The film captures the life of Igor Savitsky who was - as Ed Yerke-Robins dramatically put it - a Russian aristocrat-turned-archeologist-turned-artist. Portraying his passion for the avant-garde movements in Russia, and his constant struggle to save discarded and banned works of art, the protagonist of the documentary dedicates his entire life to tangible art and its' present and future preservation. The safe haven that was created by Igor is the still functioning Nukus Museum in the Aral Sea. The region has a long history of ups and downs, and unfortunately it has experienced an ongoing downfall for the past 15 years. Since the sea was enlarged by Soviet engineering initiatives the basin had run dry, along with the once flourishing fishing community.

Today the museum fights the Uzbek government to keep its doors open, and its' art collections breathing. The current political situation in Uzbekistan has turned from bad to.....and lets be nice, worse. The Uzbek political apparatus, lead by the omnipresent Islam Karimov and his band of mary men have created a 'traditional' Uzbek society divorced of contemporary reality where nepotism is served cold. The museum struggles financially, and has been for the last couple of decades attempting at any measure to preserve the invaluable pieces that it harbors in its vast collections. One desperate method used, is to put out a tub of hot water in the museum to add moisture to the hot desert air, so as to humidify the paintings to prevent them from drying out.

The film has big names coming in and out, but more importantly it brings unknown names to our western ears. Names of artist that have been persecuted during Stalin's great years, and only today can be heard through their dramatic, and yet genuine creations. The naration is done by Ben Kinglsey, and hollywood actresses like Sally Field come in to reenact scenes of the dead. The documentary can be described as a work of anthropological narrative, necessary and invaluable to the people of Uzbekistan; and more importantly to the conscience of us - the distant viewers.

PBS produced an abridged version of the film, enjoy:



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