The Last DervishPhotographs and video installation by
Olesya Bondareva and Mauri Pasanen
This exhibition is the first phase of a project to present an insider’s view” of the ancient Sufi dervish tradition, particularly its Central Asian variant. The Sufi dervish tradition is seldom accessible to outsiders, and one usually only hears about it in stories. Bifatima is one of the last dervishes, a guardian of the tradition, and a “teacher of teachers.” Everyone who comes to know her is struck by her compassion and benevolence towards people.
Bifatima embodies the archetype of a mother or a grandmother – that is, a woman from whom one has received much, to whom one owes much, and to whom one can never hope to repay what is due. Often travelers who meet her feel a need to know more about the history of Central Asia, the region whose traditions Bifatima personifies. In the Middle Ages, the Sufi tradition lay at the very heart of Islamic mysticism. In the society of the time, the dervish had the roles of mystic, philosopher, magician and healer. In addition, Sufi dervishes were guardians of secret knowledge and high culture, and the majority of the great Muslim poets and scientists of the Middle Ages were Sufi. Among these were Jalal ad-Din Rumi, Omar Khayyam, and Avicenna. By contrast, almost nothing is known about the dervishes of Central Asia in modern times.
The authors of this project undertook an extensive expedition to Kazakhstan, met with numerous Kazakh healers, consulted ethnologists and researchers of folklore, all of whom say that Bifatima is probably the last guardian of the dervish tradition in the region. In Kazakhstan, many call her “the last bullet.” Bifatima almost always refuses contacts with journalists and
avoids being photographed or filmed. The authors of the present project were, however, able to win her trust by trying to enter her world and see it from the inside.
Olesya Bondareva visited Bifatima regularly over a period of one and a half years. During this time she went through a number of ceremonies and initiation rites, took a Sufi name, observed all the rules of the place, and followed the required way of life. On one occasion she stayed with the dervish continuously for six months as an apprentice, and undertook several journeys to holy places in Central Asia, among them three “minor Hajjs”, pilgrimages that in Central Asia are often regarded as equivalent to the “grand Hajj”. She learned many rituals and traditions, met with the most powerful healers, and finally, gained Bifatima’s support for a project to document the Central Asian dervish tradition.
During her lengthy stays with Bifatima, Olesya had the opportunity to photograph and film rarely seen shamanistic ceremonies and scenes of the Sufi way of life at the dervish’s house. In the autumn of 2008 Mauri Pasanen joined Olesya in Kazakhstan and spent three weeks with Bifatima. During this visit he too was initiated into Kazakh customs and rituals, and made a journey to the south of Kazakhstan in Bifatima’s company. In the course of this journey Olesya and Mauri shot unique footage of Sufi rituals and shrines.
The photo exhibition and video installation are based on the above material. The next phase of the project will be a feature length documentary film and the publication of a book on the dervish tradition.
All the photographs in the exhibition were taken with a Canon EOS 20D camera and printed on Canon's Photo Paper Pro with a PIXMA iX5000 printer. We are grateful for Canon's support.
| Date : | mardi 10 février 2009 |
| Heure : | 19:00 - 22:00 |
| Lieu : | Brussels |
| Adresse : | rue de la Montagne 23 |
| Téléphone : | 32496469361 |
| Adresse électronique : |
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