By Sadokat Jalolova, Edited by Christopher Torchia
The project for the Uzbek deaf photographers’ workshop: cowl a recreation of kupkari, through which horse-riders jostle for a goat carcass and hustle it to a aim amid shouting, shoving and swirling mud.
It didn’t go properly for scholar Murod Yusupov, who arrived late on the occasion in Piskent, within the Tashkent area, after which struggled to orient himself within the boisterous crowds watching the maelstrom on the sector.
Crowds watch a recreation of kupkari, a conventional sport in Uzbekistan (Picture: Khuvaido Fatihojayeva)
“Sadly, I used to be a bit late, and I needed to keep among the many followers. Communication with the trainer and members was virtually non-existent. Nevertheless it was an enormous drawback to take footage there, there have been too many individuals who got here to look at the kupkari, I didn’t have sufficient expertise to discover a handy place and alternative to take footage,” Yusupov mentioned by way of an indication language interpreter in an interview with The Occasions of Central Asia.
He discovered from the expertise, although. With the assistance of workshop director Husniddin Ato, 21-year-old Yusupov bought accredited for the Asian Weightlifting Championships in Tashkent in February and delivered sturdy pictures. Better of all, he loved the project.
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Uzbek athlete performs in the course of the Asian Weightlifting Championships in Tashkent in February. (Picture: Murod Yusupov)
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One latest night, on the Bon Cafe in Tashkent, Ato, Yusupov and several other different members within the “Deaf Photographers” workshop talked about their experiences and hopes to a correspondent from The Occasions of Central Asia. Ma’mur Akhlidinov, an indication language trainer on the College of Uzbek Language and Literature who can also be deaf, helped to interpret. Cups of sea buckthorn tea had been served throughout a dialog lasting two and a half hours. The deaf photographers had been upbeat, usually smiling, speaking with one another by way of hand gestures and displaying pictures on their telephones to one another.
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A decade in the past, Ato, an expert photographer, needed to report on deaf folks. Then he determined to let deaf folks present in footage how they really feel concerning the world. Whereas in quarantine in the course of the pandemic, he consulted Akhlidinov, a member of the Deaf Society of Uzbekistan.
For a few years, Akhlidinov labored as a designer within the editorial workplace of Ma’rifat, an Uzbek publication, and because the editor-in-chief of the MediaPlus undertaking. Akhlidinov was stunned by the truth that there wasn’t a single web useful resource about deaf folks and their rights in Uzbekistan. In 2017, he launched a weblog for deaf folks, their dad and mom and educators.
Akhlidinov supported Ato’s proposal for an preliminary three-month course. and introduced the undertaking on the Deaf Society weblog, which has greater than 1,000 subscribers. An age requirement (18-25) was set for the members. 9 folks signed up.
Within the fall of 2021, the instructing began. It was sluggish going at first due to scheduling conflicts and different obstacles.
“Later, their curiosity and enthusiasm wasn’t all the time there, they didn’t full their assignments on time, and I needed to clarify some issues time and again. Attributable to such issues, the three-month course lasted a very long time with interruptions,” mentioned Ato, who has discovered fundamental signal language.
In 2022, Ato efficiently utilized for funds from the Washington-based Meridian Worldwide Heart, a non-profit group that implements an awards program in partnership with the U.S. State Division. “Initiatives by particular person eligible alumni are granted funding of as much as $5,000 to facilitate constructive modifications inside their communities,” Meridian mentioned.
Because of the help, an exhibition of pictures of the undertaking members was organized within the Tashkent Home of Pictures in March 2023. “We had been capable of pay the translator solely due to this grant, and earlier than that, each I and the translator labored as volunteers,” Ato mentioned.
Nowadays, former workshop members usually meet and speak with their mentors. Ato now needs to arrange one other workshop – not solely in Tashkent, but additionally at a regional stage. The large problem is funding.
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Deaf photographer Gulnoza Shermamatova, 25, mentioned her listening to issues began when she bought a nasty chilly on the age of seven. Numerous medical therapies, together with what she describes as a physician’s overreliance on prescribing antibiotics, did not stem the deterioration. Shermamatova misplaced her listening to utterly when she was 12-years-old.
Ato is teaching Shermamatova and different deaf photographers with out cost, although there is no such thing as a formal workshop underway.
Shermamatova, who’s presently finding out for a grasp’s diploma in artwork, needs to show images and is studying the right way to use picture modifying applications.
“I like taking footage of landscapes. Inexperienced is without doubt one of the most lovely colours for me,” she mentioned. “I’ve depicted many scenes of my hometown, the village of Oq Oltin in my work. I additionally prefer to take footage of individuals’s feelings. I attempt to get extra random footage. If I really feel the kindness of individuals, I’ll take footage of them. Most often, I’ve to ask their permission. It’s a pleasure to {photograph} folks trying on the horizon, the sky, and I’ve captured this just a few instances.”
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A rural scene in Oq Oltin village, Navoi Area, Uzbekistan. Oq Oltin is the photographer’s hometown (Picture: Gulnoza Shermamatova)
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After beginning the undertaking, Ato regarded for deaf photographers on the web and watched YouTube movies of deaf photographers in different international locations. He needed to make use of the movies in his instructing, however came upon that signal language will not be the identical in all places. Uzbek deaf folks, for instance, use Russian signal language.
“Lately, we invited the British deaf photographer Stephen Iliffe as a part of the undertaking, he gave a two-day grasp class to the members,” Ato mentioned. “For the members, we engaged two consultants who perceive English and translated into native signal language. My college students had been properly motivated.”
![](https://timesca.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/06/signal-2024-06-25-231935_007.jpeg)
British deaf photographer Stephen Iliffe, in striped shirt, works in a studio with Uzbek deaf photographers. (Picture: Husniddin Ato)
Throughout his go to to Uzbekistan in Could, Iliffe confirmed how he creates a body in Photoshop by superimposing two or three footage of signal language audio system, and joined the scholars on images assignments.
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British deaf photographer Stephen Iliffe, mendacity on floor, shares his expertise with Uzbek college students. (Picture: Husniddin Ato)
Employers of deaf photographers should discover methods to speak successfully, usually through textual content message, in response to Ato. He mentioned his college students have the abilities to work in picture studios or media and that “pictures taken by the deaf are virtually indistinguishable from these of bizarre photographers.”
Akhlidinov, the signal language interpreter, mentioned there have been damaging stereotypes that “the deaf can not work” or are solely good for handbook work reminiscent of in factories and development websites.
It hasn’t labored out for all of the deaf photographers. Ato mentioned one gifted scholar needed to promote his personal digicam as a result of he wanted the money and is now working in a car parking zone.
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One other expertise is Farangiz Kamalova, a 21-year-old scholar of pc graphics and inventive images on the Nationwide Institute of Portray and Design in Tashkent. She enjoys nature, folks and portrait images and needs to take part in worldwide images competitions however wants assist navigating the applying course of. Akhlidinov mentioned that’s as a result of some hearing-impaired and deaf folks have extra restricted vocabularies.
The standard of schooling and other forms of help can have an effect on the event of vocabularies for deaf folks.
Khuvaido Fatihojayeva, 21, was one of many first workshop members and knew just about nothing about images.
“Throughout the undertaking, H. Ato took us to Samarkand, Bukhara, Gulistan and arranged grasp lessons there,” she mentioned. “Since I used to be born in Tashkent, I didn’t know the scenario within the rural areas. Throughout the journey to the areas organized by the trainer, it was very attention-grabbing to get to know village life, its folks, and seize them within the body… Sooner or later, I intend to go to each area of Uzbekistan and {photograph} attention-grabbing subjects reminiscent of folks, way of life. I even have an enormous dream to journey the world and take on the planet’s structure and other people.”
Fatihojayeva needs to open a photograph studio and is inquisitive about portrait images in addition to photographing buildings and architectural options.
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Birds flutter round a person within the historic metropolis of Bukhara (Picture: Khuvaido Fatihojayeva)
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Yusupov, who had a tough time on the kupkari occasion, prepares picture experiences for media outlet Gazeta. One report was ready on a horse parade held on Worldwide Kids’s Day in Tashkent. He has additionally reported for Suvmap, a USAID-backed undertaking aiming to advertise sustainable use of water sources, engaged on numerous assignments associated to water and irrigation.
Yusupov, a historical past undergraduate on the Nationwide College of Uzbekistan in Tashkent, loves photographing nature and sports activities.
“Final 12 months, I invited my associates and trainer to my hometown, Bayovut district, Sirdarya area,” he mentioned. “We took footage of individuals’s existence, landscapes, and the birds there.”