Fariza

Another common and popular name for Fariza is A Girl with a Pomegranate. This image is probably known to everyone in Almaty: more than once, Fariza has gazed at the city's inhabitants from the billboards that adorn the city. Nurlan Kilibayev, its author, a respected local artist, finds it difficult to say in an interview why exactly Fariza — so soon after being created — became something more than just a good painting.

Yes, a masterfully painted beautiful girl (Fariza was the name of a student model who gave the painting not only her features but her name). Yes, a rich, exciting color scheme based on many shades of red. Yes, a fresh, highly successful combination of European style and Asian spirit, which created the very "Eurasianism" that so many people talk about endlessly, trying to define exactly what this "Eurasianism" is.

However, many paintings fall under the same definitions - why exactly did Fariza so quickly and firmly win the love of the people, become so recognizable and esteemed?

The answer, perhaps, lies in the same circles in which one tries to unravel the mystery of Mona Lisa’s smile. Fariza’s face is beautiful, but the emotions it expresses are unreadable. One will say that the girl is sad, another that she is thoughtful, a third will see anger, a fourth passion, a fifth fear, and a sixth tenderness.

Yes, Fariza is both mesmerizing and terrifying. The scarlet turban and the blood-red pomegranate emphasize the dark intensity, as do the girl's tense fingers as they run around the open, oozing fruit: let us not forget that the pomegranate is the fruit of Persephone, the goddess of death. The somewhat childlike face, with swollen cheeks and a tender half-smile on soft lips, contrasts sharply with the ancient wisdom of merciless eyes. This young beauty is both vulnerable and dangerous.

The abundance of decorative elements, even the seemingly excessive national ornamentation, whose details appear in the background, is not perceived, as is often the case, as a concession to the requirements of interior painting. Fariza turns out to be something much more significant than just a bright belle in national colors. Her bracelets and rings are an integral part of the ancient female chthonic goddess who rules life and death. Traditional universal myth says that the three phases of the moon — waxing, full and waning — correspond to the three phases of female life, the states of maiden, nymph and old woman. The maiden represents pride, the nymph — a mature woman — passion, and the old woman represents wisdom.

In Fariza the woman is represented in all these states at the same time. And, of course, even a person far removed from art and mythology will inevitably feel this dissonance, this exciting mystery, while looking at the painting.