“meeting with Erlik Khan” 2020

Exhibition An Infinite World: Shaman Artists,
“around a collection from the Himalayas”.
The Fernet-Branca Saint-Louis Foundation

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When I was 22 years old, I met a Turkmen shaman on the border between Iran and Turkmenistan named Ar-Nafas. Her power was that of invoking rain, I asked her how to become a Porkhan (shaman in Turkmen language), she answered me, for that it was necessary to meet death and die once.

It was the moment when I was writing my thesis for my fifth year in art school, my research on the link between shamanism and art.

I have always had a great passion for magic and mythology, I love to tell stories and in fact, I admire storytellers; I believe that stories have the ability to save human souls. Unfortunately, I am not good at writing so I create images and objects to share my stories with others. I always use art as a material for healing souls. “Show your wounds,” said Joseph Beuys.

I don’t know if I am a shaman or not, I let the audience decide, but I am a storyteller through images.

In my new series of drawings, I present Erlik Han (khan), the God of the underworld and of death in Mongolian and Turkish mythology. So I present death and tell a story about my encounter with Erlik Han.

Last year I caught a very random virus, the name of which is Bell’s Palsy. It happened to me suddenly on June 16, 2019. I lost control of half of my face, as if it was half dead. My doctor told me it could last from 2 weeks to years and the only risk was losing an eye.

It was a very difficult time, I wanted to hibernate until this nightmare ended.

I was lucky enough to live with this disease for only 2 months. During my recovery, when I looked at myself in the mirror, my face reminded me of those Inuit shamanic masks with a strange smile. After doing some research on this subject, I discovered that

I discovered that among the Inuit, this is a known disease. They believe that the patient has been driven out of his own body by a spirit and that as a result of this phenomenon, he is half dead, which allows him to travel between the visible and invisible worlds.

These ancient beliefs and stories helped me to deal more poetically with this difficult period.

All I could do was to accept my face, “write” stories about it and meet this Erlik Khan across the river (in Mongolia, when you are sick and on the verge of death, they believe that your sick soul has sailed across the river of life to Erlik Han and that the shaman’s duty is to travel that river and make a deal with Erlik Han to get your sick soul back).

What I did: I brought the sunlight to Erlik Han and took my sick soul back from him.

After the illness, life became easier for me, it was like I was not afraid of death anymore because I felt how it could be and how close it was to us, so I accepted it.

I think it’s part of us and illness is the best way to appreciate life and face death.

The sick soul drawn with saffron is the surest way to bring luck in Islam, like a talisman. The sick soul represents my sick soul that I heal with saffron from the protective snakes and mirrors, each with their own symbols.

Saffron is sacred because the colour is close to gold. It represents the sun. The mirror reflections represent light and protect from the evil eye.

Snakes, in my culture and in the Persian world, are sacred. “Mar” means “snake” and “Bi-Mar” means “disease”. The root “Bi”, in isolation, means “without anything”. In other words, “without the snakes, you get sick. “So I drew the snake queen on my body to protect me from illness.