Ahlat Kings charity project

On February 22, 2025, RTB Regeneration Art Gallery hosted the opening of the charitable exhibition Ahlat Kings, showcasing 20 photographs by artist Alexander Barkovsky. Some of these works were created in collaboration with Sasha Kulak, a filmmaker who participated in the project.Thanks to the efforts of the organizers, the exhibition featured prints on high-quality, acid-free German Hahnemühle paper, which can preserve the integrity of photographs for over 1,000 years and is used for artwork and documents requiring long-term preservation.The exhibition presents photographs capturing the lives of the Mugat community (Central Asian gypsies), who remain largely unseen by society. Despite long-standing efforts to integrate the Mugats into the broader population of Central Asia, a significant portion of this community continues to experience social isolation. Nevertheless, the labor performed by the so-called “garbage kings” serves a crucial ecological function – Mugats sort through discarded materials, recovering valuable recyclables and enabling their further processing and reuse.The goal of the artist and the organizers was to create a charitable initiative. Earnings from the sale of the photographs, more than half of which were purchased during the opening night, will be used to support the Mugat diaspora in Bukhara. For instance, one of the planned donations includes a sewing machine for a mother of 15 children, along with training on how to use it.Representatives of the Mugat community were invited to attend the exhibition opening. The organizers assisted in their accommodation and cultural experience in Tashkent, while the community members themselves took part in the ceremony and had the opportunity to see their lives reflected in the gallery space. The Ahlat Kings exhibition will be on display at the Regeneration Gallery for two months.Admission is free.