Brad Downey - The Fathers of the Nation
http://braddowney.com/work/2016/the-fathers-of-a-nation
The Fathers of the Nation
Public Work
2016,
Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan
Thanks:
Aida Sulova, Igor Ponosov, and The Wa
The monumental sculpture by T. Sadykov from 1995 entitled, "The Fathers of the Nation" originally contained many life sized bronze portraits of influential citizens from Bishkek. Over the years, these bronze portraits started to mysteriously disappear. Most people believe the portraits were stolen, only to be sold for the value of the scrap metal.
While in Bishkek, after discovering the origin of this monument, I decided to replace the missing sculptures with living people from Bishkek. With the help of a local research team we managed to identify the names of those that were portrayed, and tracked down Kyrgyz professionals who work in the same field as those that were stolen. Three Writers, three Doctors, two Geologists, one Poet, Film-maker, Politician, Composer, and one Opera Singer.