10.3 Memories - Annual Unocal Poster Competition

Autumn 2002 (10.3)
Page 83

Annual Unocal Poster Competition

Unocal Khazar held its ninth annual "Azerbaijan Today" Poster Contest Awards Ceremony on May 23, 2002 at the Baku Art Center. The main theme of this year's contest was the preservation and protection of Azerbaijan's ethnographic, cultural and architectural legacy.

Above: The Ninth Annual "Azerbaijan Today" Poster Contest Awards Ceremony. Mike Barnes (center) welcoming the art gallery visitors.

First place went to artist Vugar Ali, who dedicated two of his posters to Shusha, the "cradle of Azerbaijani culture." Shusha, located in the heart of Karabakh, was an important center for Azerbaijani music and culture until Armenian military forces occupied it in 1992. As with the other occupied territories, Shusha and its important historical monuments are now in jeopardy. Another of Ali's posters depicted the idea, "Azerbaijani folk music is our most ancient memorial."

One of second-place winner Mirazer Abdullayev's posters depicted Baku's Ichari Shahar (Inner City), also known as the "Old City" by the foreign community. The integrity of this medieval city and its surrounding fortress walls is being threatened by modern construction projects and a lack of state protection for historical monuments. Other entries emphasized that Azerbaijan's architectural monuments need to be protected for future generations

As in past years, Unocal Khazar's contest exhibition also included works from Galina Churilova's Studio of Ecological Posters at the Tofig Ismayilov Palace for Children and Youth. Unocal Khazar is proud to continue the tradition of this poster contest, held in conjunction with the Baku Art Center, which serves as an expression of the people of Azerbaijan. According to Mike Barnes, Unocal Khazar's president, this year's exhibits were the best yet. Next year will mark the 10th anniversary of the Poster Contest. Unocal will celebrate this with the Baku Art Center by producing a catalog retrospective of the excellent posters submitted to the contest. It will be a chronicle of Azerbaijan's journey of independence as seen through the eyes of its poster artists.