Rustem Skybin: “Our task is to revive the Crimean Tatar craft, to preserve and augment the spiritual and material wealth of our people”. In the sixth publication about the life stories and fates of the Crimean Tatar families, which were prepared within the project “Hostages of the Occupation”, we propose you to get acquainted with the ceramic artist, designer Rustem Skybin, who wants to show with his own life story a positive experience of adaptation of an internally displaced person.
Rustem Skibin was one of the first IDPs from Crimea. He evacuated his family from the peninsula in the first days of March 2014, during the active phase of occupation.
"It was my civic stance, my cultural protest," says Rustem.
Within a year after the relocation, he managed to open his art workshop "El-Cheber" in Kyiv.
“We love our homeland, our people and our culture. Our task is to revive the Crimean Tatar craft, to preserve and augment the spiritual and material wealth of our people,” the artist says adding that he wants to demonstrate a positive experience of adaptation of an internally displaced person.
Rustem willingly shares his professional experience with the younger generation. Today he has from 5 to 6 students, whom he teaches pottery, ethnography, design, and more.
The main message that the artist is trying to convey in his work is "We are Crimean Tatars". He is convinced that culture is the medium through which Crimean Tatars can voice their presence.
“Cultural diplomacy is a very important component of our struggle. If we are invisible, no one will remember us,” says Rustem.
In conclusion, Rustem admits that he dreams of "a world that would allow us and our future generation to evolve without losing our identity", and of course of the soonest return to Crimea, the site of inspiration and strength.
Project manager: Zarema Bariieva
Author of pictures: Elvir Sagirman
Text writer: Elvir Sagirman
Translation into English: Zarema Bariieva
We remind that on February 26 in Kyiv, the presentation of the album and the exhibition “Hostages of the Occupation” took place, which tell us about the fate of 20 Crimean Tatar families after the annexation of the peninsula. On March 10, the exhibition opened in Vinnytsia. The exhibition is expected to be presented in Lviv and Dnipro as well.
The project was prepared by the Crimean Tatar Resource Center with the support of the Democracy Grants Program of the US Embassy to Ukraine.