photojournalist Farid Khayrulin

The key subject of Farid Khayrulin’s photo exhibition is the changing image of Baku.

The name that Farid Khayrulin, a renowned photojournalist, chose for his current exhibition, hosted at the gallery of the Azerbaijan Museum Center, is “Baku – yesterday and today”. The exhibition includes about 100 photos, and the meaning of the word “yesterday” is far from "distant past”. Only two pictures are really old: a panorama of the Baku of 1982 and a photo taken in 2001 – it, too, appears so antique compared to the drastically different Baku of today. And this – the reflection of the rapid pace of the Baku construction boom – is one of the goals of this exhibition.

The artist voices his protest against the fact that in the very center of our capital there still remain the narrow streets where space is so limited. This is particularly obvious in a number of photographs of dark narrow dead-end streets, only too common in the old quarters. People should not live like this - says the artist.

That is why the exhibition revolves around the beauty and diversity of new buildings, especially the most original ones – the real embellishments of our city. The images are not restricted only to completed buildings – the artist shows the true aesthetics of construction.

The photojournalist senses other trends as well. One of his photographs shows the contrast between the wreckage of an old building and a new building towering above it. An old, half-dead tree arises from the wreckage – its twisted branches as though cling to the past and do not want to let it go…

Naturally, not all the images are dedicated to confrontation. Some of them just show beautiful places of our city – old architectural buildings, new constructions and those ordinary buildings that have taken on a new look. One of these works is a photograph taken at the opening of the restored Green Palace. Colors play a crucial role in Farid Khayrulin's works. The image of the National Bank, a black and golden building, evokes the image of the source of this country’s wealth – "the black gold”.

Nevertheless, Farid Khayrulin does not give definite answers; he does not impose his views. “I just show what I find interesting” –he says – “and let the viewer draw conclusions”.