FOLKLORE AND IDENTITY: HISTORY, MEMORY AND MYTH MAKING IN THE MODERN VISUAL CULTURE OF KAZAKHSTAN

Abstract

The culture plays an essential role in the process of strengthening of the self -identity. Art creativity and visual art is a sensitive and truthful barometer that visually demonstrates the true state of things. The themes, events, heroes, promises are the basis of the art work, they are clearly or indirectly expressed as a kind of projection of the most relevant cultural trends in society. The article explores the place, significance and authenticity of traditional folklore and historical subjects in the contemporary pictorial arts of Kazakhstan (painting, graphics and sculpture).The authors consider folklore as not just an interesting and distinctive phenomenon thatis capable for decorating any subject, but an important indicator which reflects the complex and often contradictory processes of the formation and strengthening of the nation identity. The problematic field of the study is the results of two national art competitions "Kazakh folk epic. History and traditions of the Kazakh people "(2012) and "Babalar ansagan Tauelsizdik"(" Independence, bequeathed by ancestors ") (2016), which are organized by the A. Kasteev State Museum of Arts of the Republic of Kazakhstan under the patronage of the Ministry of Culture and Sports of the Republic of Kazakhstan. These most large-scale and prestigious events for a quarter of the century of Independence, in addition to an obvious picture of the artistic life state in the country, also convincingly demonstrate the degree of knowledge and awareness of the society about own historical and cultural heritage. The theoretical and methodological basis of the article is artistic-philosophical and cultural-historical methods, the hermeneutical basis of which allows to make a more comprehensive look at the problem of figurative and semantic interpretations, also an axiological method capable for revealing the value orientations of modern culture. The result of the article is an analysis of the socio-cultural potential of visual arts in the process of implementing some key tasks of Modernization 3.0 and the State Program "Ruhani Zhangiru", exactly, the preservation of own culture, national identity and national code.