PAINTING PHOTOGRAPHER

Painter and photographer Faxriyya Mammadova does not confine herself to one area. She likes the psychological portrait, architecture and genre photography. However, her real passion is documentary photography, where she can realize her hunting passion to wait and not to scare, and to catch the moment. Faxriyya is a member of the Artists' Union and the Association of Photographers of Azerbaijan, and a member of the Association "Wings of Time", which unites figures of contemporary art in the country. Since the beginning of the 2000s, the works of Faxriyya Mammadova have firmly taken their place at exhibitions of contemporary art in Turkey, Georgia, Russia, Ukraine, France, USA, Germany and her native Azerbaijan.

- Faxriyya, tell us what happened before photography? Who are you by education?

- I'm a certified ceramic artist and art designer. Before I devoted myself to photography, I wanted to draw. From a very young age I was good at drawing. I could spend hours drawing fairy tale characters, flowers and patterns in the album with coloured pencils. I was very surprised when I was told that not everyone can draw well. It seemed to me that this gift was enjoyed by all children without exception. I remember that in the kindergarten the teacher handed us circles cut from paper and asked us to draw "what we feel" in them. I drew a fairly complex composition for a 3-year-old child, which is still kept in my home archive. I also loved to sculpt various figures out of plasticine. I created sculptures. I dreamt of becoming a painter or a sculptor. In high school, I announced my desire to my parents, and the family decided that I need to enter the faculty of artistic ceramics. For ceramics is fertile material with a mass of expressive properties and promotes the self-expression and self-realization of artists in different areas.

Right after school I entered the faculty of art pottery at college. I got into the class of a wonderful person and excellent teacher Rafiq Suleymanov, who taught us a lot. In the third year at college, I began working in the ceramics department of the Centre for the Scientific Restoration of Museum Treasures and Relics at the Ministry of Culture and Tourism of Azerbaijan. Back in Soviet times, the well-known artist and restorer Farhad Haciyev founded a lab and then a workshop at the Museum of Art in Baku. On its basis, the government decided to set up the Centre for Scientific Restoration, which is now working closely with the National Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan. The daughter of Farhad Haciyev - Gulsan Haciyeva - also invited me to the world of restoration. And I'm grateful to her for not being afraid to entrust such a complex and meticulous job to a young student. I just fell in love with the restorer's profession! This is an incredibly exciting job, where you can open and show all your abilities. I restored various sculptures and pottery found during excavations or handed over to the centre from the vaults of our museums or private archives. This is a painstaking and responsible job. For example, it can take a restorer-artist three weeks to restore only one detail in the overall composition, while a sculptor sometimes spends up to two years on the restoration of a masterpiece! Responsibility is like that of a surgeon: you cannot make mistakes. I had to work carefully and accurately. At the same time, I engaged in the creation of artistic dolls. I made miniature dolls dressed in national costumes, which participated in various competitions and took first places. Then there was the Azerbaijan Academy of Arts - the Faculty of Design.

- When did photography appear in your life? What was it? Portraits, street photography or home photos?

- My first photos were closely associated with restoration work. It all began when my uncle gave me a Zenit camera, which allows you to shoot in macro mode. I began to photograph my work to document the transformation of ancient artifacts step by step. Then I began to photograph outside work: urban streets, landscapes, nature and people. I was interested in everything around. I wanted to stop the moment to show the beauty of this world.

- Tell us about the Association "Wings of Time". What did cooperation with this organization give you?

- The Association "Wings of Time", which was organized by well-known Azerbaijani critic Leyla Axundzada, was set up in 2000 together with an exhibition under the same name. This unique association gave many of our young artists, who were in a difficult and unusual creative quest at the time, a start in life and most importantly, confidence in the right choice of the way. The Xaqani shopping centre, where we - young painters and sculptors - exhibited our works, had only just opened then. As a designer, I experimented with many materials and techniques, but eventually I identified my main interest - photography.

- Why did you choose photography?

- I think that photography is a reflection of our presence in the world. I want to record the most "delicious" moment - one that I can remember all my life. This is what makes me love photography. It revives your memory, brings back sensations, feelings, and even smells.

- Do you think the photographer needs to learn the profession or is it an internal gift?

- Of course, it's good to have a gift, but you also need to learn. I think this is the main problem of photographers in our country. We have no classical photographic education. Because of this, most of our photographers are involved in wedding or salon photography. It's necessary to develop and move forward, travel to other countries, participate in international exhibitions and workshops, and share experiences. All this is necessary for a good photographer. My professional experience was greatly influenced by works of friends, artists and photographers. Practice is a great teacher after theory...

- You're shooting in different genres. And what do you like most of all?

- Speaking of genres, perhaps I like most of all candid photographs that are sudden and unplanned, and it doesn't matter whether it will be a street photo, a genre portrait or a rural landscape. In addition to such photography, I love and respect the documentary genre, as well as the psychological portrait. For me, the point of naturalness and artistic nature of a photograph are valuable.

- You shoot a lot in the genre of street photography. What attracted you in it?

- For me, documentary photography is an accidentally recorded unique and unrepeatable moment. What's captured in the picture is a second that will never be repeated. A casual man, building, elements of the environment and plants - they all have their own history and their own lives. The world is always interesting. And this is its charm.

- What is your most successful picture and what does it means for you?

- (Thinking) I think it's the picture with the sad "Pokemon" roaming the seaside boulevard. I took this picture after my trip to the United States from where I brought my first digital camera. I decided to walk along Baku boulevard and accidentally captured an interesting moment. Parents strolled on the waterfront with children, and a man dressed up like a huge pink "Pokemon" stood alone waiting by the sea. He looked like a sad ghost lost in real life, although in reality he's like that at work and waited for someone to have their photograph taken with him.

- Do you have your favourite places in Baku where bright and interesting shots are made?

- It's the Old City and the seaside boulevard. You can always find the right texture and interesting characters there. I also enjoy travelling to the countryside and cities. In a short time I managed to visit almost all the regions of Azerbaijan. I shot a lot. I was interested in life on the periphery and the traditions and customs of those who live there. We made very colourful photos. I like to take pictures of Georgia very much. The first series of my photos were devoted to this country.

- Do you think there's a difference between men's and women's way of shooting?

- It's hard to say ... men pay more attention to techniques and detail, and girls are more prone to emotion.

- If you had to shoot the only photograph that characterizes modern Baku, what would it be?

- This is the picture of Baku from the sea. From here you have a wonderful view of how our city is developing, how it is growing and becoming more beautiful.

- You also participate in exhibitions of the Yarat! space of contemporary art. Tell us about this stage of your work.

- In 2011, I began working with Yarat! from the first days of its establishment. I linked almost all my life to the activities of this organization and I'm proud to have contributed to the contemporary art of Azerbaijan, and I hope that I can be useful in the development of art education. I taught at Western University and the Academy of Arts of Azerbaijan for a long time. It's amazing to see the success of your students. I participated in many international exhibitions: Fly to Baku - London, Paris, Berlin, Vienna, Rome and Moscow (2012-2014), Home Sweet Home - Paris (2013), USSR Remix - Oslo (2011), BakUnlimited in Basel (2009) and others. In 2013, I represented Azerbaijan at the 55th Venice Biennale of Art, and in 2012, I participated in the TURKSOY symposium, and a symposium of photographers in Astana (Kazakhstan). My works were exhibited at different times in Turkey, Georgia, Great Britain, Italy, France, Germany, USA, Greece, Russia, Uzbekistan and Ukraine. I try not to stand still and keep moving forward.