Almaty artist Shakhiza Kuanyshbekova has complained about the fate of paintings submitted by participants in the national "Azharly Almaty" competition, saying the works were never returned to their authors, infohub.kz reports.
According to Kursiv LifeStyle, the artists have raised a number of questions for the competition's organizers.
On September 16, Almaty hosted the awards ceremony for the winners and the opening of the competition's final exhibition. In total, the organizers received 168 works, 109 of which advanced to the second stage. The winners shared a prize fund of 10.5 million tenge, and five other artists received incentive awards.
Kuanyshbekova entered the competition with a painting titled "Neon Sunset." She said she spent several weeks working on it, along with materials and a great deal of time. After the final selection, the artist did not get her painting back.
"What will happen to the dozens of works by artists who did not win prizes?" Kuanyshbekova asks in a video address.
According to the artist, the organizers cite a clause in the contract stating that competition works are not returned. However, she says many artists were initially told that this condition applied only to the winning works. Now the authors want to know what will happen to the paintings that did not win prizes.
Kuanyshbekova believes artists should be able to collect their works after the exhibition ends.
"A painting is the physical and intellectual property of its author. If no prize has been paid for a work and it has not become a prize-winner, its uncompensated seizure effectively devalues the labor of a professional artist," she said.
Kursiv LifeStyle previously reported that the ARYQ Fest contemporary art festival will run in Almaty from September 18 to October 3, offering a look inside artists' studios.