In my ongoing series, “Logomania: Owning the World at Half Price,” (2019 – ) I explore this endless trend of borrowing Western mass culture signs in the everyday life of ordinary Uzbeks. Bootlegging, plagiarism, a parody of luxurious life today is part of the modern culture of a country. The basic question which I try to get is “Who we are as a nation and what is Uzbekistan today?
For me this is an essential question – I try to understand the space and moment and who I am, including. It feels that we all live in a strange reality here –between Chanel and Gucci logos on every plastic bag or pillow versus a long story of censorship and lack of truth about ourselves. Are we a nation of those that will always create an idol for themselves and worship it? Will we always stay between the charming West and China, which will give us a copy of this dream?
This is an internal crisis of self-identification of a country in times of globalization, Instagram fever and internal changes make me reflect on country’s “now moment” that will later take on a different form, which is difficult to imagine.