"LINGER YOU NOW"

They first engaged with the public right here, where thousands of people - residents and visitors to the city - pass by every day. Some people are in a hurry, rushing ahead, glancing at the aesthetically transformed walls. Others stop, delayed by something they have to do. Previously, one's gaze would be focused on an ordinary tile that lined the walls of the underpass. Now these walls echo with the voices of those who want to share with us their own world, one which is governed by their own laws and their own artistic sincerity.

An exhibition of the work of Azerbaijani photographers has opened in the underpass of Ganclik metro station as part of a Metro Gallery project. This is the second initiative organized by the Baku Metro and it will continue until 15 November.

The exhibition has no particular theme and it displays the work of the people of Azerbaijan who seek ways of creative self-expression through the camera lens. The works vary in composition, shading and content. Here you will find portraits, still-life, landscapes and collages. They all represent an attempt to depict the natural world as they like to see it, through selected minor details and large compositions. Among the works of the photographers displayed in the metro underpass you will not find any whose names are familiar or who are recognized masters of artistic photography. They are the attempts of people whom we will get to know in the future. There are a great many people who want to reach out to an audience and they have brought several works of their own for the exhibition. They want to make a start and get people talking about them.

What's new in focus

Andrey Jabali makes no secret of the fact that he idolises the cult figure of the American editorial photographer Steve McCurry. He is one of the best known and gifted photographers of his day. Many fans of photographic art know him as the man behind a unique portrait of an Afghan girl.

Clearly, the phenomenon of Steve keeps Andrey on his toes. Each one of Jabali's works is accompanied by a note that says it was created after the style of McCurry. In photography, portraiture is one of the most difficult arts. It is not enough merely to capture facial features in the correct light: it is much more important to capture that moment when the subject does not feel you are intruding on their spiritual space. Clearly, McCurry became a part of the history of world photography with his portrait Afghan Girl. Who knows - the same fate may await Baku's Andrey Jabali?

Here's Elvin Novruzlu's "Chicken Family". It's a peep behind the scenes of rural life - an attempt to record a moment of the idyllic and harmonious relationship between a mother-hen and her chicks. There is something naive and touching about his work.

Rufat Iliyev: "Cracker Bread". It doesn't look much - a brazier with a fire under it and the outline of mountains in the haze of twilight. It is an atmospheric work. One gets a sense of the sanctity of things and a kind of assurance that tomorrow everything will be just as it was a thousand years ago: the sun will rise to wake people up and send them on their daily chores, and evening will come again: the coals will crackle under the brazier and when they catch fire they will scatter tiny sparks of wood…

Aurelia Nasirova: "A brave man of the 21st century". The streets of the ancient town of Lahic [Azerbaijan] don't recall such dashing horsemen! This town of craftsmen lies in the mountains and each tiny street, each road and each house breathes the history and the beauty of the past which links so seamlessly with the present. And the young man on the horse is the link between the past and the present… 

Vuqar Sevdimaliyev: "Selibur". A scene from the harsh days of winter for the people of a highland village: the author's insight into the ordinary human values linked with such simple concepts as life.

Nicat Rzayev: "The Pomegranate". A combination of natural materials (pomegranates, the immature fruits of the date-plum and the offshoots of dried out tubular plants) within the living space of a wood. Nicat is a professional artist and his several works on show are an attempt to change his paintbrush for a camera lens. He experiments with objects and space as if he were using a brush. His second work, entitled "Fishing Boat", until one looks at it closely, does in fact resemble a landscape painted with a brush. The structure of the dissolving sand was possibly "touched up" on a computer by the author, but it all looks like an artist's canvas. And if you look at the background, then as well as the rays of the sun, breaking through the clouds, you can see details which were not planned by the author…

Denis Svechnikov. "The old quay".  A moment of almost mythical reality. Time, as it were, stands still: there is a feeling neither of the past nor the future. It is all happening here and now. A frozen moment between the past and the future…

Xaliq Zeynalov. "Sofia". This work is worthy of the brush of the Renaissance artists. Of course, the heroine of the 21st century has none of the meekness and humility of the girls of that time who charmed all with the stillness of inner harmony. Here everything is different. And whereas the Renaissance girls were a reflection of their time, today's embody all the features of a century of vague ideals. Portraiture is not a simple genre. And if a photographer can "steal" a moment of truth, it means he is not a layman when it comes to seeing the world through a camera lens.

Rufat Mehtiyev and Ruslan Mammadov. "The wild beach of Bilgah". Photo-collage is also art, albeit more intellectual and less sensitive. It could be seen as applied art. These photographers have a rather ironical outlook on life. And this benign irony is capable of fine, original provocation, encouraging the viewer to look for others to compare them with. Some people are reminded of Georgiy Daneliya's film "Kin-Dza-Dza!" and others of a summer beach in Pirsagi and fresh watermelon rinds in the sand…

The provocateurs

One of the great directors of the beginning of the 20th century said that a real artist, whatever the sphere of his creative activity, is always a   provocateur. The current project to dress up an empty space proved to be not only necessary and useful from the point of view of aesthetic improvement, but also allowed the creators of numerous photographs to announce themselves through their own images and their unusual way of producing a picture.

It will be recalled that the first project at Baku Metro closed joint-stock company was a selection of works by Azerbaijani artists who drew the public's attention to the problems of children suffering from blood disorders. The exhibition was then arranged in subways of the Narimanov metro station. As part of the exhibition the Red Cross organization called on the people of the city to give blood and to help the children of Baku suffering from leukaemia.  The exhibition of children's pictures was a kind of creative promotion in support of this idea. So, it would seem that the fertile soil of the subways will from now on be kindly disposed towards the lofty ideas of charity and the possibility of engendering a sense of beauty in our hearts.