On a frosty and snowy day in late November 2019, when the city’s deadly smog cleared for a short while, an exhibition of feminist contemporary art was opened at Bishkek’s National Museum of Fine Arts.
As the exhibition floor filled up with the first visitors and journalists, several performances, mostly by Central Asian artists, were taking place simultaneously in the exhibition space. These works dealt with issues of women’s labour (often invisible, never-ending, unpleasant and unvalourised), bodily integrity, gender performativity, sexuality and violence against women - the staples of feminist contemporary art across the world. Yet it was one performance by Danish artist Julie Savery - a “reverse stripping” (initially appearing naked and then gradually putting her clothes on) - that sparked controversy around this cultural event.
Savery’s performance was designed to call public attention to the dehumnisation and stigmatisation of sex workers. But images and recordings of it that appeared in local Kyrgyz press and spread on social media mobilised right-wing nationalist groups, who demanded that the exhibition be closed and the organisers - punished.
