Study of Tatar culture via images from Tatar folk riddles
Combining street art and animation
Dasha Zorkina (Berlin, Germany) and the residents of Almetyevsk
28B Gafiatullin Street
Riddle
Табышмак
The art object was created jointly with the residents of Almetyevsk
Context
We can learn more about Tatar culture via local riddles. Berlin-based artist and cartoonist Dasha Zorkina addressed this part of folk art.
Unlike proverbs and sayings that narrate about the world view and moral values, riddles capture material things that surround people in day-to-day life. Being short, riddles are easy to memorize, and their images are passed down through generations. Thanks to these images, today we can compile a portrait of the ethnic group we are interested in.
In the Naki Isanbet's three-volume edition of «Tatar national proverbs» (from tat. «Tatar khalyk tabyshmaklary») first published in 1970, more than two thousand puzzles are mentioned, the answers to which are defined by distinctive images of Tatar culture. The folk language contains a few riddles about nature: they illustrate plain landscapes, calm full-flowing rivers and small streams, forests and groves, fields and meadows, arable lands and kitchen gardens. Natural phenomena are reconsidered through the common for people images of things and phenomena, and then they become simple, close, kind, and even naive.
Naki Isanbet's three-volume edition of «Tatar national proverbs», first published in 1970.
A sketch from the «Riddle» mural series, 2019.
In the Naki Isanbet's three-volume edition of «Tatar national proverbs» (from tat. «Tatar khalyk tabyshmaklary») first published in 1970, more than two thousand puzzles are mentioned, the answers to which are defined by distinctive images of Tatar culture. The folk language contains a few riddles about nature: they illustrate plain landscapes, calm full-flowing rivers and small streams, forests and groves, fields and meadows, arable lands and kitchen gardens. Natural phenomena are reconsidered through the common for people images of things and phenomena, and then they become simple, close, kind, and even naive.
Naki Isanbet's three-volume edition of «Tatar national proverbs», first published in 1970.
A sketch from the «Riddle» mural series, 2019.
«There is a poplar with twelve branches. There are four sparrows on each branch; for each sparrow there are seven leaves; each leaf has two sides: a white one and a black one.» (Answer: year, seasons, days of the week, day and night).
A Tatar riddle
A Tatar riddle
«There is a poplar with twelve branches. There are four sparrows on each branch; for each sparrow there are seven leaves; each leaf has two sides: a white one and a black one.» (Answer: year, seasons, days of the week, day and night).
A Tatar riddle
A Tatar riddle
Process
Form of art object: a series of street art works, an animated film
Style: contemporary illustration
Style: contemporary illustration
A Berlin-based artist and cartoonist Dasha Zorkina worked on the series of murals. All six objects are located on the walls of the school №21 in Almetyevsk. According to the idea of the curatorial team, passing from image to image, viewers are reading the riddle, and they can solve it only when they see all the works from the series.
«We were elaborating the ways of how to attract viewers' attention to the object and how to show that further there will be something interesting», Yekaterina Udalova explains. «At first they notice the word «Tabyshmak» (from tat. «riddle»), then they get into the yard and there the puzzle begins.»
«We were elaborating the ways of how to attract viewers' attention to the object and how to show that further there will be something interesting», Yekaterina Udalova explains. «At first they notice the word «Tabyshmak» (from tat. «riddle»), then they get into the yard and there the puzzle begins.»
Visual style of the murals, illustration, was chosen deliberately. This style is a kind of connecting link between the series of murals and the second part of the artwork, an animated film created by local residents together with the artist.
Dasha Zorkina created, shooted and cut a cartoon hint together with local residents during a week-long cartoon laboratory. Two participants of the workshop Dima Kuznetsov and Polina Efremova – created images of the two characters «Day and Night» on their own, and under Dasha's responsive guidance transferred them to the wall. Another lab participant, Andrei Surkov, helped them in this.
Interesting facts about the work:
6 works of street art is an overall quantity of paintings in the «Riddle» series.
11 people took part in the cartoon laboratory.
7 days were spent on the cartoon production.
1 school in Almetyevsk was decorated with murals.
Dasha Zorkina created, shooted and cut a cartoon hint together with local residents during a week-long cartoon laboratory. Two participants of the workshop Dima Kuznetsov and Polina Efremova – created images of the two characters «Day and Night» on their own, and under Dasha's responsive guidance transferred them to the wall. Another lab participant, Andrei Surkov, helped them in this.
Interesting facts about the work:
6 works of street art is an overall quantity of paintings in the «Riddle» series.
11 people took part in the cartoon laboratory.
7 days were spent on the cartoon production.
1 school in Almetyevsk was decorated with murals.
The work on the murals, Almetyevsk, 2019.
Photoscript of «Tabyshmak» animated film, Almetyevsk, 2019.
Decorations made for the «Tabyshmak» cartoon during the laboratory of Dasha Zorkina, Almetyevsk, 2019.
Visual style of the murals, illustration, was chosen deliberately. This style is a kind of connecting link between the series of murals and the second part of the artwork, an animated film created by local residents together with the artist.
Dasha Zorkina created, shooted and cut a cartoon hint together with local residents during a week-long cartoon laboratory. Two participants of the workshop Dima Kuznetsov and Polina Efremova – created images of the two characters «Day and Night» on their own, and under Dasha's responsive guidance transferred them to the wall. Another lab participant, Andrei Surkov, helped them in this.
Interesting facts about the work:
6 works of street art is an overall quantity of paintings in the «Riddle» series.
11 people took part in the cartoon laboratory.
7 days were spent on the cartoon production.
1 school in Almetyevsk was decorated with murals.
Dasha Zorkina created, shooted and cut a cartoon hint together with local residents during a week-long cartoon laboratory. Two participants of the workshop Dima Kuznetsov and Polina Efremova – created images of the two characters «Day and Night» on their own, and under Dasha's responsive guidance transferred them to the wall. Another lab participant, Andrei Surkov, helped them in this.
Interesting facts about the work:
6 works of street art is an overall quantity of paintings in the «Riddle» series.
11 people took part in the cartoon laboratory.
7 days were spent on the cartoon production.
1 school in Almetyevsk was decorated with murals.
Photoscript of «Tabyshmak» animated film, Almetyevsk, 2019.
The work on the murals, Almetyevsk, 2019.
Decorations made for the «Tabyshmak» cartoon during the laboratory of Dasha Zorkina, Almetyevsk, 2019.
Author
Dasha Zorkina is a self-taught artist. She spent her childhood in the Russian Far East, but soon she moved to Saint-Petersburg, where she started to work with the Upsala Circus. Since 2014 Dasha has been teaching children the basics of animation at her own studio Kiez-Lab in Berlin, where she lives now.
«At the university I studied at the faculty of painting, but then I decided to leave it, and this step allowed me to travel a lot», the artist recalls. Dasha often walks along the streets of various cities and makes sketches of people she likes. Her art style was determined by the sincere love for animated films. That is why caricatured seniors, punks with multicolored hair, party animals and society girls become a part of her cartoon reality.
«At the university I studied at the faculty of painting, but then I decided to leave it, and this step allowed me to travel a lot», the artist recalls. Dasha often walks along the streets of various cities and makes sketches of people she likes. Her art style was determined by the sincere love for animated films. That is why caricatured seniors, punks with multicolored hair, party animals and society girls become a part of her cartoon reality.
The «Tabyshmak» cartoon filming process, Almetyevsk, 2019.
The work on new murals, made during the laboratory of Dasha Zorkina, Almetyevsk, 2019.
Dasha Zorkina is a self-taught artist. She spent her childhood in the Russian Far East, but soon she moved to Saint-Petersburg, where she started to work with the Upsala Circus. Since 2014 Dasha has been teaching children the basics of animation at her own studio Kiez-Lab in Berlin, where she lives now.
«At the university I studied at the faculty of painting, but then I decided to leave it, and this step allowed me to travel a lot», the artist recalls. Dasha often walks along the streets of various cities and makes sketches of people she likes. Her art style was determined by the sincere love for animated films. That is why caricatured seniors, punks with multicolored hair, party animals and society girls become a part of her cartoon reality.
«At the university I studied at the faculty of painting, but then I decided to leave it, and this step allowed me to travel a lot», the artist recalls. Dasha often walks along the streets of various cities and makes sketches of people she likes. Her art style was determined by the sincere love for animated films. That is why caricatured seniors, punks with multicolored hair, party animals and society girls become a part of her cartoon reality.
The «Tabyshmak» cartoon filming process, Almetyevsk, 2019.
The work on new murals, made during the laboratory of Dasha Zorkina, Almetyevsk, 2019.
David Laptev
Aisha Zakiullina
Yana Mayorova
Sveta Mayorova
Rufina Kalimbetova
Diana Halimova
Polina Efremova
Gleb Filippov
Dima Kuznetsov
Alexey
Aisha Zakiullina
Yana Mayorova
Sveta Mayorova
Rufina Kalimbetova
Diana Halimova
Polina Efremova
Gleb Filippov
Dima Kuznetsov
Alexey
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