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Fourteen sculptures of the distinguished Central Asian artist Erkin Mergenov constitute the subject matter of this book. The creative force of the sculptor produced the artifacts, which then inspired historians, theologians, philosophers and literary scholars to produce verbal responses and meditations on original themes. The texts, which exemplify different cross-disciplinary approaches to art and sculpture, cover the 30-year span of the artist s career from Self-Portrait (1971) to Premonition (2001).

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Dr Nariman Skakov is an Assistant Professor of Slavic Languages and Literatures at Stanford University. Prior to this, he was a doctoral student in Medieval and Modern Languages at University College, the University of Oxford. His research interests include literary theory, cinema and contemporary Central Asian art.

Dr Alim Sabitov is a Professor of Design and Architecture at the Kazakh Academy of Architecture, Almaty. He has written extensively on Kazakh contemporary art and architecture, including the book Imaginary Architectural Spaces (2000).

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